Physis
by Elisa Ardell
Summary: The road to Hell is lined with good intentions. Is the road to the Dark Side just as well hidden? Things are changing and not all of them for the better. How will Ahsoka and the Clones growth effect them, each other, and those around them?
1. Chapter 1  Bugs

**Physis**

By: Elisa Ardell

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

Bugs

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><p>Life could be truly amazing at times. Life had ways of being able to line up into beautiful perfection. It was a very rare thing so when it happened it was always noticeable. Today was one of those few magical days.<p>

Ahsoka and the 501st moved along steadily. They had a mission that should be 'easy' and it was on a warm and dry planet. After the last place they had been this was like walking on Naboo. More than a few of them still felt like they smelled of garbage even though that was impossible by now. Containers of cleaners and soaps couldn't have possibly been in vain.

The terrain on the planet was mostly sand covered rock that was broken up now and then with cliffs, gorges and grass. Since they'd been there though they hadn't seen any of the grass the planet apparently had. What they had seen was lots and LOTS of obnoxious bugs.

"Bugs are worse than the clankers!" Tup groaned as he swatted at the ones that kept landing on his helmet.

Thankfully the bugs came in waves and those were staggered pretty widely. Still they were awful when you hit a batch.

"At least you can hit the bugs." Five teased.

Ahsoka listened to the banter behind her with a smile.

"How are you doing Commander?" Rex asked. Somehow the girl who was so very bare seemed to be mostly bug free.

"Fine." She told him. "How are you doing?"

"Well."

She smiled widely at that as they continued on. "I wouldn't expect any less from you Captain."

They had been walking for hours, but the battle would be coming soon in a sense. They were trying to walk to their destination without alerting the enemy which was proving fairly easy so far. They'd been there for a day already and had covered a lot of ground. Now and then droids would appear and they'd avoid them. Tomorrow or the day after the Clones would finally be able to shoot something which surely would make them happy.

Even with all the hours they'd been going Ahsoka continued to move along easily as she checked their map now and then. This was going to go well, she could feel it! A small yawn escaped from her and she brought up her hand to try to block it from view. She peeked around a bit trying to make sure nobody had noticed. It was a futile effort though, made clear when she saw more than a few helmeted heads look away and heard some chuckles.

"Getting tired kid?" Rex asked with a clear grin in his voice.

"No I am fine Captain." Ahsoka answered as she looked up and over at the other. "You getting tired? I think I see you slowing down."

"I am just keeping pace with you. Commander" He said as he flipped her words back at her.

Ahsoka pursed her lips at that. "Nice to know you still have your sense of humour after all this walking, Rexter." She could tell he was enjoying this and regarded him a moment longer before looking up at the cliff wall that they were quickly heading towards.

"Wish we could have landed on top of that instead of having to climb it." Fives groaned.

"I'm pretty sure there's clouds at the top." Hardcase said with a grin on his voice.

Ahsoka smiled back at them and then looked at Rex. "How much longer until sunset?"

"Should have another hour and a half." He answered. "We can make camp once we reach the top."

Ahsoka nodded and then grinned. "Just what I was thinking!" Her eyes surveyed the area ahead of her. "Well I'm going to scout ahead, find a good spot for us to camp."

"I don't know if that's wise Sir." Rex began as he saw Ahsoka rush off. He sighed as he watched the Padawan begin to move easily up the side of the cliff. "Come on! Can't let her get too far ahead!"

"Race you up." Fives grinned at Echo.

Echo looked up and then back at Fives. "I'm pretty sure that's against-" As soon as he saw the other begin to head up HE had to rush away and begin to head up as well. It might not be 'proper' but there weren't any droids around and being able to let loose a bit after a full day of very boring walking was good.

Echo startled as he saw someone joining in on his and Fives' little competition.

A hearty and almost demented laugh of glee came from Hardcase as he raced up the cliff wall with them.

"Oh you're on!" Fives said as he dared to look down and beside him, the laugh telling him all he needed to know.

Rex shook his head and began to move up himself with the others. He kept looking up to see where their Commander was. Sometimes he could damn the Jedi a little for making everything look so easy.

"Speedy little thing isn't she?" Rex heard Jesse say.

"That she is." Rex answered as he held off a groan. Sometimes he wished he could put an anchor on her.

"So how do you think this is going to go?"

"Well. Do you not think it will?" Rex asked as he felt his brow furrow. He made sure to keep an eye on what he was doing and to not get distracted.

"I think it will. It should go well and it's all planned out. Our time is doing exceptionally well also, so that should mean good things."

Rex smiled at that. "Yes. It should mean good things."

Jesse continued to climb with his brothers, occasionally looking up to see where Fives, Echo and Hardcase had gotten off to.

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><p>Once to the top Ahsoka stretched and inhaled deeply the actions causing her back to pop and her chest to ache in a good way. She blew out the breath then went to look down the cliff face; smiling at the progress that the three were making. She hardly ever saw Echo and Fives not talking together, and the fact that she couldn't hear anything from them just proved how much they were concentrating. Since she doubted that they were closed channel.<p>

She shook her head a bit as she yawned, causing her to stretch again. "Yeaaaah... this is a good assignment." It was great to have a bit of 'down time' now and then. Yet still get credit for 'working'. She cracked her knuckles and then began to look around the area.

Ahsoka smiled when she found just what she was looking for. She moved into the cave like area and scouted around. It was a pale red orange in colour and was fairly flat and smooth all the way around to the ceiling. Still it looked natural and not purposefully made. It was an L in shape and in the shorter area there was an indentation in the wall that had a tiny waterfall that landed into a little pool. With a few more steps forward Ahsoka was able to see that the cave also had a way out. That could be good or bad. Either way though it looked like an alright place to be. They hadn't seen any droid squads for most of the day. Hopefully that meant none were in the immediate area.

Ahsoka continued to look around the cave. After a little bit more searching without finding anything eventful she moved closer to the little waterfall. It was so cute looking. She sat in front of it and then went to scan the liquid, her thirst growing. This would be great if it was drinkable. She swatted at a tickling sensation on her arm and then one on her stomach. Stupid bugs! She looked down but didn't see anything, nor did she hear any buzzing. Must be cave bugs! Maybe they'd go to sleep soon or they were only around the water.

She was pulled from her thoughts when her scanner beeped. A smile crossed her face when she read the scan. Yes! It was drinkable and safe! She was sure the guys would like that.

"OW!" She hissed as she swatted at a sharp pinch and looked down when her hand whacked something small but hard. Bah! It was a creepy bug that made a quick and large leaping get away. She groaned at the sight before she went to fill her canteen. Well, at least there was water, that was worth a bite.

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><p>Rex didn't like that Ahsoka was out of sight and had been for so long. He had no idea what he'd do if he heard blaster shots and the sound of her lightsaber. He tapped his comm as he continued up. "Commander?"<p>

"Hey Rex." She chirped back easily. "I found a place to set up and it has drinkable water!"

"Don't tell me you drank it already." He said worriedly.

"I scanned it! And it came back clean." She told him. "I'm not stupid enough to drink un-scanned liquids!"

"I would prefer you to not drink _anything_until I or at least Kix is up there." He told her levelly. He held off his own sigh at the exasperated sigh he got back through the comm. "Just looking out for your well being Sir."

"I know." She said as she managed to not huff. "How are you guys doing?"

"Getting close, should be there in ten minutes... though the three racers should be there any second."

"Alright." Ahsoka said with a happy smile. "See you guys soon."

"Yes Sir." Rex answered before he ended the communication. Times like this he REALLY hated climbing.

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><p>Ahsoka smiled as she waited for Fives, Echo and Hardcase to get to the top; grinning when they began to scramble up onto the ledge. Moments after they began to quickly argue over who had actually won.<p>

"Commander? Did you see who made it first?" Fives asked as he headed over towards her. "Between Echo and I. Hardcase joined uninvited."

"What? You just say that because I won."

"Say what you want Hardcase." Fives huffed before he looked at the Commander.

Ahsoka smiled at them. "I think you both made it at the same time." She told honestly at Echo and Fives. "Though Hardcase was the first Trooper up."

"YEAH!" Hardcase celebrated!

Echo and Fives watched her then looked at each other. "I think I clearly made it first." Fives said with a nod as he tried to ignore 'stupid' Hardcase.

"She said she thought we made it at the same time!" Echo argued despite himself. "And are you saying that the Commander is wrong?"

Oh that wasn't fair! "Guess that just means I was sloppy today." Fives countered.

Echo stared at him for a moment before turning away from him.

The grin on Fives' face could be heard right before he laughed.

Ahsoka watched the three clones for a moment longer before she cleared her throat to gain their attention. "Come on, I found a place for us to rest for the night."

The males headed over to where she was leading them, still lightly arguing as they followed. Once inside the cave they began to scout around and check things out.

Ahsoka let them do their thing as she sat down on a slightly raised flat rock. Her fingers reached a little bit down below her waist band and scratched at the bump that was forming. _Blast it!_She looked around to see where the troopers were and leaned a bit to see if they could see her. Once they were mostly out of sight she pulled her clothes away from herself and looked down at her skin. Ooh that was swelling kinda bad. She jerked when she heard them get closer and she got herself sitting in a normal position.

The troopers noticed her sudden movements and looked at each other. Should they ask about that? Jedi's were different but they found that the Commander was pretty much like them.

"Ah, everything alright Sir?" Fives asked.

"Everything's fine, just have an itch." She told easily. "Why don't you guys get set up, I'm going to go check on how the others are doing."

"Sir, yes sir!" They watched her head away before they went about claiming their spots. The men looked up as she left the area completely.

"Should be getting to our location the day after tomorrow right?" Fives asked.

"That's what Captain Rex had been saying" Echo nodded as he chose a nice flat spot near his brother. "Then we'll be outta here."

"Think we're going to have any trouble?"

"Don't think so." Echo said. "Be kinda nice to be able to shoot some clankers though." He couldn't help but laugh himself when he heard Hardcase exclaim in excitement.

Fives took off his helmet and sat down on his selected area. He rolled his shoulders and grinned. "Yeah it would."

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><p>Ahsoka tried to not scratch the stupid itch as she continued to watch the climbing troops. She wiggled a bit and had to step away from the edge so she could scratch without anyone noticing. Ooh she KNEW it wasn't good to scratch itches for fear of irritation or bleeding but it was just so itchy! Maybe she could take a moment and ask Kix if he had anything for itching. She fussed with her clothes momentarily and sighed as the pressure from them made the itching better once they were scooted down just a little bit. Ooh that was good. Maybe she could just do this and it would quickly get better on it's own. She'd see how it was tomorrow if it didn't keep bothering her today.<p>

Black gloved hands appeared on the edge of where she stood, quickly followed by the white armoured bodies that they belonged to.

"Have a nice climb?" She asked with a grin as she offered to help up any who would take her hand. Which really wasn't many.

"Yes Sir." Rex answered dryly as he got up with the rest of his squad. "You said you found a place to rest?"

"Yes Captain. Echo, Fives and Hardcase have set up their areas already I'm sure." She smiled as she lead the way to where they'd be spending the night.

Rex followed and looked around the area, doing the cursory search. "You three scout?" He asked of the men as they stood from where they'd been sitting.

"Sir, yes sir!" They answered.

"Area is all clear and it also seems to be unfit for droids." Fives told.

"Good work." Rex said as he decided to look himself. He took in the craggy view that he was greeted with when he looked out the 'exit' path. He looked back when he heard the others coming into the cave.

"Kix, scan the water there. Make sure it's safe for us to drink." He said, not wanting to forget to do that before he looked back at what was before him.

Kix looked up at the order and moved to do so immediately. Water would be a nice luxury if it was safe.

Rex surveyed the exit carefully. Looking as it sloped down a bit and then lead out to another brief 'path' that then seemed to explode into jagged rocks. Rex saw that it would be best to continue on the path from the entrance, but if they had to he was sure they could go the way he was looking at now. His men could handle it. He looked back at his troops once he heard the sounds of them all talking. "Alright Men." he began as he got their attention. "We'll rest here tonight and then leave at dawn. That'll mean we either have one more rest stop before we reach our destination or if things go very well we might be able to get there for nightfall."

Ahsoka smiled at the cheers and 'Yes Sir!' that rang out. She settled on the spot she had claimed as HER seat and kept shifting her leg. Damn itch! Stupid pressure not working right now. She tried to fidget a bit, wishing her outfit had pockets so she could secretly scratch. She frowned to herself, wondering if the men itched, or what they did when they did. Just ignore it? She could ignore it. She was a Jedi! The itch seemed to pull at her skin and pinch it as if to prove her wrong, the feeling quickly re-dominating her thoughts. She was NOT going to succumb to an itch! This was ridiculous! She oriented herself and went to sit cross legged. She would try to meditate in the hopes that it would help with making it go away.

A few of the men watched her before they began to converse with themselves again, relaxing and eating a few rations.

Rex quirked a brow at the Padawan. That was always an odd sight, one that he wasn't used to seeing her do. Was she looking out for them? Or was it something else? He would be sure to keep an eye on her.

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><p>The voices of the men drifted away as she was enveloped in the calmness of meditation. Ahsoka was right where she was, as well as a million parsecs away. This was wonderful right now. Nothing could bother her here. All was well and good on the outside, and all was safe and well on the inside. She let herself drift. That's when she felt a small nagging feeling. Something that was preventing her from moving onto complete meditation. She could feel herself frown a bit, which only helped draw her back more. It was a sharp feeling, a growing feeling that began to encase her mind. It was like a black foaming mass that was sweeping through her calmness. Demanding to be paid attention to.<p>

She tried to fight it, tried to ignore it and concentrate on meditating but as soon as she reached that point she had lost the battle.

"_Frell_!" Her eyes snapped open and she blinked. It wasn't dark, everyone was still awake but clearly an hour had passed because the colours in the cave were blue and purples. The sun was obviously setting. Had she actually meditated for that long?

"Sir?" Jesse asked as he looked up at her from his spot.

"Sorry, I'm fine." She smiled forcefully. Ooh, the itching, she could feel it all the way up her side, she swore it was making her back and hand twitch. This was ridiculous! She got up. "Going to just, check on some things." She nodded at the tattooed soldier before she headed away out the 'front' of the cave. She swore he said something but she didn't catch it due to her thoughts being on something more immediate. Something more itchy! Once out of sight of the men inside her hand reached down into her clothes and scratched the lump that felt a million times bigger now. Her mind wondered how they didn't all see it.

Her montrals twitched at the sound she heard. What was that? Ahsoka looked up and stared right at Echo who hadn't noticed her yet. She was about to say that he shouldn't stand that close to the edge of the cliff before she realized what he was doing. She turned around and stepped back inside her face redder than normal.

A couple of the men laughed when they saw her enter.

"I warned you." Jesse said as he chuckled a bit. He knew not to make fun but a little bit at her expense wouldn't hurt at all.

Ahsoka wanted to curl up into a corner even as she outwardly took it all in stride. Not like this was the FIRST time it had happened. Thankfully Echo hadn't noticed, but the others had. Which meant that he WOULD know about it almost as soon as he came back. She went and took up her spot again, watching a few of the men play cards. She peeked around noticing Rex wasn't around. She guessed he was on patrol.

When Echo came back in he frowned a bit at the chuckles he got. "What?" When he got no answer his frown deepened. He moved to sit next to Fives a questioning frown on his face. "What's so funny?"

Fives couldn't be mature at the moment and coughed a bit to force stop his laughing. His brothers serious expression pressed at him to continue laughing and teasing but he kept himself in check. Knowing that fun and games did have an end. "The Commander just came back from a walk."

"Where'd she go?"

"Out the front."

"Yeah?" Echo was clueless at the moment as to what that meant.

"Where did you JUST come from Echo?"

"The fro-" His eyes widened in realization. He put a hand to his face as he felt Fives' hand slap him on the back and then shake his shoulder lightly as he said reassuring things. "I'm not going to talk to you for the rest of the night."

"I'm fine with that." Fives said, sure that Echo wouldn't be able to not talk to him for longer than a few minutes.

Ahsoka shifted off of her spot and slid down to where her bed roll was, which was a bit too close to Jesse but right now she didn't care. She shifted and put her feet near the wall so she could lazily watch them play Sabbac. She felt very tired now and like she could sleep if she just allowed herself to.

"Hey, where's Rex?" She finally asked.

"He went on a short patrol. He hasn't been gone long. Said he'd probably be about twenty minutes." Jesse answered.

"Okay." She said as she curled up a bit. Before she let herself fall off to sleep completely she scanned the men that were around. Echo and Dogma didn't look very happy. Echo probably because he knew by now and Dogma... hm. She guessed it was because the guys weren't sitting on guard and were playing cards. She contemplated talking to both of them but decided to let it wait. Dogma would disapprove but would ultimately let it go since she didn't have any problems with it and she did not think that talking to Echo right now would make ANYTHING better.

Ahsoka curled up a bit, watching the cards being played. The sounds of the cards being shuffled and put down onto the stone ground slowly lulled her into a sound and itch less sleep.

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><p>Rex came back exactly twenty minutes after he left and looked at Ahsoka sleeping. It was early and he looked at her with some concern before he took off his helmet and shifted to hold it under his arm. Maybe all that wall climbing was more taxing than he thought. Then again she'd been yawing for quite a while. He went to sit down himself. They'd all be turning in soon, but not quite yet.<p>

"How did things look sir?" Tup asked as he looked up from his cards.

"All clear and quiet." Rex said.

Tup nodded with the others at that, it was good that there was no activity. Considering the distance they had to go still if they were found now then that would make things more difficult. Not that he thought that they couldn't do it. They had been through worse then what they were expecting from this planet. Still, best to be alert at all times.

Rex noticed the expressions on Dogma and Echo. Dogma's look was obvious, Echo looked like he wanted to put his helmet on. He wondered what happened there. If he continued to look like that into tomorrow he'd check on it. Otherwise he'd let it run it's course. Fives was right there, so whatever it was would surely be worked out.

It was a good hour later before the men stopped what they were doing and fell asleep themselves. The night was thankfully uneventful and the warmth of the day continued into the dark hours.

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><p>Ahsoka awoke with a jolt when something hit her on the back. She rolled over a bit to see what had disturbed her only to see Jesse's hand against her back. She used the Force to gently tuck his arm back up to where she guessed it should be before she went to stand. The lighting in the cave seemed to indicate that it was getting to be very early morning. She got up and carefully stepped out towards the front. Even if she was sure that all the men were in the cave sleeping soundly she still peeked out first, not wanting a repeat last night.<p>

When she saw it was all clear Ahsoka moved out a bit more and looked around before she could do a few warm up exercises in the space she had. Not a lot of space to work with but plenty enough to do a few of the less 'jumpy' ones. Things felt good right now. The men would be getting up soon and they'd be on their way out. She also had to remember to eat one of the horrible ration bars at some point. Her stomach growled at her in protest, reminding her that she'd meditated and then slept her way through her dinner meal.

She twisted then stretched and promptly winced. Instead of the satisfaction of being stretched that she was looking for she got pain. Ahsoka's eyes looked down towards her waist. Without her belt covering it she was able to see that the material looked bled through and once she pulled the fabric away there came a sharp pinching. A thick, deep brown mixture seemed to be seeping out of the wound. She swore again as she looked at her clothes then went to pull her clothes out and down a little bit, just enough to have the rim of her leggings and skirt not bothering the affected area so directly. The lump wasn't as prominent as it had been, instead it seemed to have flattened out. It felt stiff to the touch, which only seemed to make more of that gross substance emerge from the center wound.

"Commander?"

She jerked and looked back. "Ah... morning Kix." Just the man she wanted and didn't want to see. She shifted her clothes around, trying to hold off a pained expression when the fabric touched the clearly sore area.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he came over to stand in front of her. The way she turned to prevent him from doing that made him grab her by the shoulders. "Stop."

She sighed and did so, allowing him to get in front of her and kneel. He could see the discoloring on the outside of her clothes, though it wasn't something noticeable unless you were as close as he was. Which nobody should be. "May I?"

"Yes." She said as she let him do what he needed.

He cleared his throat as he hooked his thumbs into the waist bands of her clothes and pulled them down a little over an inch to give himself plenty of space to work with. He winced at the small pained sound she made. "How much does it hurt?"

"I've had worse." She told him honestly as she looked at his face, trying to read him.

He nodded at that and went to lightly touch the area. "Stay here." He said as he got up to get his pack. The light out here was better then inside so he didn't ask her to follow.

Ahsoka fought the urge to pull up her clothes. She never wore that much on her top which allowed a lot of her stomach to be exposed normally but somehow this was making her uncomfortable. She looked over when he came back and crouched in front of her, her head tilting back a bit as she closed her eyes. Stupid everything.

"Are you alright with standing?" He asked as he began to inspect the area again with his gloved hand.

She looked back down at what he was doing, nodding a bit even if she was sure he wouldn't notice it. "Yes I'm fine it doesn't hurt." She said, her voice wavering and being broken with a gasp as he got to a ticklish area. She looked away from him and towards the other side of the area.

"Ah..." He took out his scanner and checked it, frowning. "How'd you get this?"

"Think a bug bit me."

He frowned more. "When did this happen?"

"Yesterday when I got up here."

He made a low sound at that. "With all due respect Sir. You tell me when something like this happens. We're on a strange planet and bites and in this case stings can cause any sort of possible problems."

"Yes Kix." Ahsoka sighed and hoped today was getting the horribleness out of the way right now so it would spare her for when later came. She felt so stupid and embarrassed. It was obvious that you told people when something like this happened. Not like they'd tease her to death for getting assaulted by a bug. She held off a groan, of all the stupid things...

Kix sighed to himself and got some things out of his bag. "Scan says something is in there but I don't think I can or should do anything right now. It'll be fine until we get back to the ship tomorrow and the medics can get to you. I'm going to give you a shot and then I'm going to clean the area. It'll sting."

"Okay..." Damn it... She was never going to hear the end of this from her Master. Ahsoka closed her eyes as she felt herself be given the shot and then had to fight gasping as he touched at her again. How did this tickle? Her mind wandered a bit as she felt the textured gloved fingers roam against her skin. She inhaled a little sharply as his hand got closer to her side.

Kix felt her tremble as his hands re-checked the area lightly and gently. He looked up at her with his eyes now and then, making sure she wasn't enduring through waves of pain just to appear strong. He watched her mixed expression, unsure of what to make of it. Well at least she wasn't in agony and for that he was thankful. Even if he was beginning to feel like he might be doing something wrong. He was not used to people reacting this way when he did work on them. He shifted to grab some medical cleaner onto a piece of medical cloth. Once enough had been applied he went to wipe the area gently, hearing her hiss through her teeth as he pressed. When she tried to step back from the pain he had to shift and put his left hand on the small of her back to hold her in place. "This will make it better." he told her as he held her still.

Ahsoka made a small sound and nodded, her face scrunching up at the stinging pain. She shifted back against the hand, amazed by how solidly he held her in place. The thought of that made a fiery heat explode in her chest and made her tremble in a bit of a different way. His hands were not those of a medical droids. Her eyes opened a bit wider, why was this happening? What was she DOING? Her head didn't _wander_like this! Even if what Kix was doing hurt, feeling his hand on her back stole her attention. On his strong fingers that were placed solidly against her. Soon though it was over with and she slumped her body trembling from how tense it had become. "All done?"

"Not yet." he said as he checked the area visually. He looked at the read out again. "If you start to feel worse you _TELL_me. Understood?"

"Yes sir." She said softly, not liking the fact that she was in this position. The position of being in trouble, the actual physical position she was in with him and having it be more than a little liked bothered her on a level that she couldn't even begin to explain.

Kix then went to dab at the area again, making sure it was as clean as he could get it before he got a medical patch ready and made sure a good dollop of antibacterial medical gel was on it. He got ready. "Hey, look at that."

"Hm?" She asked looking around to see what Kix was talking about. Her breath caught in her throat as a violent pain ripped upwards and outwards from what had just been a simple itchy spot yesterday. The sharp breathtaking pain made her try to back away from it hard enough for Kix to pull her towards him. She had to blow out a breath and put her hands to her face to wipe away any stray tears that the shock had caused. There were levels of pain and she had felt a lot worse but it was just so different than other things she'd felt before. "Ow..."

Kix then went to pull up her clothes nicely once the sticky patch was in place. "There." He said as he stood and then looked down at her. "You sure you're okay?" His eyes searched her young face. She was flushed and her eyes couldn't meet his. The visual cues he was getting from her made him tilt his head. Had he done something to deserve this sort of look? Of all the clones he and the other medics were the only ones allowed to touch the female Commander without permission when not in battle. He had, had to examine her before. Maybe it's because he touched a ticklish area. It made some sense, he'd found a 'weakness'.

"I'm fine." She told him, unable to meet his gaze for a moment longer. When she heard the sound of a throat clearing she winced but still looked over. "Morning Rex."

"Is everything alright?" he asked, his eyes moving from Kix to Ahsoka. Something about the sight made him tense up, and was unable to keep the frown off his face.

"Everything is fine." Ahsoka assured. "Just had to have Kix check over something."

Rex eyed Kix a bit, watching the other closely. He'd of course never suspect one of his brothers of wrong doing, still he felt protective. Also the way she wasn't looking at either of them made him move closer. "Kix? Is that true?"

Kix nodded. "Everything is fine." he could tell that Rex was on the alert for something.

Ahsoka huffed a bit. "I just TOLD you it was fine." She said at Rex with a frown.

Kix watched the two have their silent stand off and then he finally spoke. "Everything is as fine as the Commander says." He assured. He could go into details as it was honestly nothing serious. Though he was pretty sure if he did his Commander would hate him forever, especially if he did it right here. He was sure she could last longer than Fives and Echo with any 'shunning' she would do. If it became a concern he could tell Rex in private.

Ahsoka looked up at him and gave Kix a look. "I'm going to go in and get my stuff packed and change once you guys are all out of there. Everyone else awake?" She tried to push the funny feelings aside.

"Yes Sir." Rex said. "I'll clear them out."

She watched him go and then looked down at the top edge of the sticky patch that just peeked out from her clothes. Yeah... best to change lest she have disgusting stuff drying and then starting to smell on the very clothes she was wearing. She moved in to pack up her bed roll which had been strangely comfy last night. She offered a small smile at Jesse, managing to not tease him the way the others would about him rolling over and 'whacking' her with his hand. It wasn't her place as their commanding officer, it also wasn't something she wanted to draw attention to in case it was awkward. She supposed it wouldn't be but right now everything felt more than a little strange. Once everyone was out, she quickly swapped her skirt and leggings to her pair of tight maroon pants. She gave herself a moment to adjust to the new amount of pressure on her sore before she headed out to the now helmeted group. "Ready?"

"Yes Commander." Rex said. "I was just telling the men that heading this way would be the most direct and easiest way to go. I scouted a bit last night and found that it is the better way to go."

Ahsoka smiled. "Alright. Lets do this."

* * *

><p>The walk had indeed been easy, up until noon. When they had run into their first group of patrolling droids. They managed to avoid them though, not wanting to tip their hand. From that meeting on there seemed to be many more droids and less and less areas to hide and tuck away in to avoid being spotted.<p>

"We must be close." Ahsoka said.

The group moved along, Fives and Echo took the lead now and then, switching out with Jesse and Dogma and Tup and Hardcase in a steady rotation. As the day drew on, their area of sparse but still rocky landscape came to and end. They had reached the plains. It was completely flat, and there didn't appear to even be any foliage that was higher than knee height.

"This'll be fun." Dogma said with a frown.

"We made it farther today then I thought we would." Rex said. "There's still time and we're not that far. Commander, I think we should go for it. We can put a stop to the clankers here tonight and get the information we need."

Ahsoka thought and looked back out, her eyes scanning the landscape that was now a hue of purples. They could do this and then go home. She looked back at the team that she was with knowing that they were all set to do whatever she wanted. "Alright. Come on, lets do this."

Rex nodded. "You know the drill, two teams!" He ordered.

Ahsoka listened to Rex separate the group they had and looked back out to the landscape. No place to hide, but no place for the clinkers to hide either. Once it was time she headed out with Rex, along with Kix, Tup, and Jesse. Dogma went with, Fives, Echo and Hardcase. If they weren't going into battle right now she'd tease Dogma on how happy that group combo must make him.

Their swift movements ate up the distance quickly. Ahsoka's eyes scanned the area, trying to make sure nobody saw them. They couldn't risk the information they wanted being dumped before they got there like last time. Hence why they'd been taking his mission so 'slow'.

Ahsoka continued ahead with the others. "Nobody seems to be out here."

"Maybe they're confidant in their searches." Jesse said as he too looked around, keeping an eye on what was behind them.

"Let's hope that's it." Ahsoka said as they reached the edge of the huge sinkhole. Down below was the squat factory. She laid down, the situation allowing her to ignore the protest that erupted from under the medical patch. "Alright... there's more than what I was expecting. Get the other group to stop at the location we agreed on."

Rex nodded. "Dogma. Are you in position?"

"We are Captain. Whenever you're ready."

Ahsoka inhaled slowly. "Alright." She slid off her personal pack and then took the one that Rex wore. "Don't loose my stuff." She warned him with a smile. "I'll never forgive you if you do." She offered a smile at him before she moved forward and peeked down. She then looked at the groups that were patrolling around around the factory. She waited until there was an opening and leapt.

Rex and the others could only watch as she dashed across the ground and then leapt up onto the building. She was on her own now.

* * *

><p>Once on the roof Ahsoka opened up the pack she wore and pulled out the breathing mask. Once it was adjusted she stood up and bounced easily into the exhaust.<p>

Even with the mask it smelled. She inhaled deeply as she carefully watched her decent down into the facility. Once she was far enough down she began to cut a hole into the stack. Once it was cut she used the force to push the heavy metal of the chute and wall into the hallway and gently lay it down. She was in the right spot.

* * *

><p>Dogma frowned when he saw the droids on his side break their patrol pattern suddenly. "Captain Rex, the clankers are heading for the doors, looks like they're heading back inside, and quickly."<p>

"Shoot them. We don't need more of them inside then there are already. We'll cover this side." Rex said as he waved at Jesse and Kix before the three of them began to shoot the droids that were in their sights. They continued their attack easily, due to where they were positioned they also had lots of room to shoot them down in before they got anywhere near where they were located.

Dogma continued to shoot with Fives and Echo while Hardcase had taken it upon himself to already move into the dangerous area. Mowing down everything with his much loved Z-6 rotary blaster cannon.

Dogma was unable to not grit his teeth while the sounds Echo and Fives talking seemed to echo in his helmet. "If you two do not stop talking I'll hurt you."

"You're too by the book and rules to ever do that Dogma." Fives said with an audible grin.

"I'll make the exception." He answered through gritted teeth.

The two talkers did eventually comply. There was only so far you could push Dogma before he'd get so upset that he'd go to Rex. That wasn't so bad, the bad was that he'd think that Rex wasn't taking his complaint seriously. Then he was quiet and not fun.

Tup lowered his weapon when the droids suddenly stopped and powered down. "The Commander did it!"

Rex and the others stood watching the now very still area. He opened a channel to Ahsoka. "Good work Commander" When she didn't answer he frowned. "Commander? Commander respond." Another pause of nothing. "Ahsoka?" His body tensed as he stood up. "Come on men." He went open channel. "Dogma, bring your team in. We're going in to find Commander Tano."

"Maybe her comm was damaged." Jesse said with a frown.

Rex hoped that was it. As they made their way he went to call for a pick up in preparation of her being hurt.

Within minutes all the men but Tup were inside the base which was now completely dark and quiet. Their helmet lights traveled eerily across the corridor floors.

"Captain." Fives began once his group entered the base from their side. "Any sign of the commander?"

"Not yet." Rex said. "We should head for the Comm room and the area surrounding it."

"Yes sir!" They said as they spread out into a search pattern.

Rex moved through the halls, his brow furrowing deeply, trying to figure out all of the different things that could have happened. Maybe it was a damaged comm, and she was heading outside.

The path to the central communications and power rooms got tricky with how many shut down droids there were. Considering how easy travel had been it was clear that all the droids were heading inwards to where the Commander must have been.

"Fives check the Comm room, Echo you check the power room. Everyone else continue checking the halls." Rex ordered as he looked at the shut down bodies. All was quiet on the open channel. Maybe she had gotten up and left. If she had though Tup would have told them already.

"I found her!" Echo said through the open comm. "She's been hurt." He felt cold as his helmet light illuminated her prone form. He rushed over to her as quickly as he could, having to kick the droid bodies out of the way. "_Yadaj dakl, ignot_! Blasted clankers! Worse than when they're active!" Once he got over to her he crouched. "Commander?" He asked as he went to gently shake her. The violent knot in his chest loosened when he heard her make a sound. "She's alive!"

"Move." Kix said as he rushed over to check on her. "And grab her lightsaber."

Echo looked for the weapon and grabbed it up once he found it. "Is she going to be okay?" he asked as he looked up at the others coming in.

"I hope so." Kix said as he went to roll her over very gently. His eyes widened at what he saw. Ooh Commander...


	2. Chapter 2  Guilt

**Physis**

By: Elisa Ardell

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

Guilt

* * *

><p>Pain.<p>

Sounds of talking overlapped the feeling of moving, lurching and then brightness. So many voices, but through all the confusion, disorientation and the darkness, the pain was there. Searing pain that felt like it was eating at her, consuming her. It's tendrils working it's way up into her body and hooking into every organ she had. She tried to speak, tried to open her eyes, tried to ask for help but nothing would come. The darkness had taken her and all she could do was scream in the oblivion that was slowly tangling around her. Threatening to drag her to depths that she couldn't comprehend. The pain and the darkness became greater as she felt it snaking through her body violently. Long fingers worked their way up to her throat, choking and ultimately stealing her ability to breathe.

It had been a terrifying mad dash to the pick up location. Rex was acutely aware of how small Ahsoka felt in his hold. He had felt many things before, many due to his brothers, and much from their loss. Yet this felt different, in a way that he didn't allow himself to linger on. He just knew it was different and he'd leave it at that with himself.

He shifted the small form, continuing to talk to her, telling her it would be fine. Even if he was sure the words were more for himself than the girl he held. "GO! GO!" Rex ordered sharply once they were all on board the LAAT.

Kix checked her again as the ship took off. He looked at her face, it having gone pale and her skin shiny with sweat that hadn't been there when he'd found her. He bit the inside of his lip as his brow furrowed. As he had feared, this was from more than just being shot.

Rex didn't dare ask Kix if she'd be fine, or if she'd make it. The flight to the _Resolute_ had never seemed so long.

* * *

><p>Anakin was right there when the ship landed. "What happened?" he demanded of the armoured men as he saw the medical crew rush over to take Ahsoka away. "What is going on!" he snapped at them again. "Someone tell me something!"<p>

"General Skywalker, Commander Tano has been shot." Kix said to the General before Rex could. "One of the battle droids must have clipped her before she was able to turn off the power grid."

Anakin stared at him, then at the group as a whole before he went to rush away after the medical droids. Ahsoka!

Rex stood there with the others, not daring to go after the man, or to go to find out what was happening or how things were turning out. Right now he knew to just give the General his space. Hopefully later he could find things out and check on her. He closed his eyes briefly, knowing that things would be fine. Still he couldn't turn off his worry.

Kix shifted before he looked down at the floor. He felt guilty, the feeling somehow worsening as he shook his head in an attempt to clear it. He looked back at Rex when the other placed a hand on his shoulder.

"She'll be fine. We got here here. You did your job." Rex said in a tone that told that he was trying to convince himself of that as well.

"I know." Kix nodded slowly. "Just..." His voice died off.

"I know." Rex said knowingly and softly. He knew exactly what feeling the other had. It was the same one he was having. The wish that he could do more.

Kix was thankful for his helmet, because he was worried. Not for any trouble he could get into, but because he wasn't saying something to his brothers. He walked with his team as they began to head out, feeling horrible at the knowledge that he might have been able to prevent her from being shot.

* * *

><p>It was hours later when Ahsoka could finally be seen. Even then she was tucked away into a Bacta Tank, it helping heal what had happened to her.<p>

"She should heal up completely General Skywalker. Though we are expecting there to be a scar." The Medical droid said as he looked at the girls chart.

Anakin stared through the glass of the bacta tank at Ahsoka as his hands tightened into fists. He finally was able to pull his sight away from his Padawan and look at the medical droid beside him. "What happened exactly?"

"To cause this?" The droid asked as he looked up at Anakin. "From what we found it is mostly as Clone Trooper Kix said."

Mostly? "Which is what?" Anakin asked with a deepening frown.

"That Jedi Padawan Ahsoka was shot. That is completely correct. She received a shot to her lower right side, which would have not incapacitated her completely had it not been for the poison."

Anakin stared at him his eyes narrowing. "What poison?"

"It was found when we did the newest scan here. There was a poisonous like substance within the shot wound. We found that it was a natural poison that had entered her body through a barbed stinger. The likes of which we found the remains of within the wound. It appears from her scan history that the stinger didn't break as soon as she was stung. The activity of doing her mission must have broke it. Once that happened, it would have spread quickly. Increased heart rate would have pumped the poison faster." He nodded to himself. "Staff went in and removed the infected area and we were able to clean her blood appropriately while making sure her organs were still fine. Scans show that from the type of poison that it was and at her size that it would have been fast acting. Thankfully she was only shot once."

Only shot once. He knew what the droid meant but that didn't meant that he didn't want to punch it any less for that. "She'll be fine though?"

"Yes. As I said, we are expecting a full physical recovery."

Anakin trembled a bit with anger and frustration but nodded. "How long do you think she'll have to stay here?"

"Including the tank time? She should be up and about within a few days. No longer than a week."

"Why so long? Isn't the tank supposed to fix everything?"

"Yes, but her body has suffered a great shock from the poison. She will need rest and we rather have her committed here then out on her own where we can't monitor her." He paused a moment. "I know how active you Jedi can be, and want to be. Even when you shouldn't be."

Anakin nodded slowly and ran a hand over his head. He felt exhausted. His eyes once again focused on his Padawan. "Contact me as soon as you're removing her from the Bacta Tank. I want to be here."

"Of course General Skywalker." The droid said with a nod. "I will make sure your wishes are followed through on." The droid said as he began to head away.

"One more thing."

"Yes?"

"Could something have been done about this on the planet?"

"If you are asking if what Clone Trooper Kix did was the best he could do, I agree that it was. By the time he saw her again she was already nearly unconscious from the effects that the poison was having. From the logs when he first scanned her, there wouldn't have been much he could have done, nor was there anything hinting to him that this would happen. He could have removed the stinger anyway but that would have been difficult with what he had on hand and at such an unsterilized location would have opened her up to infections and clear physical limitations."

Anakin didn't want to hear that. Still he nodded, more than a little angry that he had no good people or things to be mad at. It was difficult to get over something if you couldn't put a face to it, something he knew wasn't good. He'd blame the Separatists. They were good for that. If they hadn't of built their damn base then Ahsoka wouldn't have been there. Then again had he not sent her in she wouldn't have been there. He ran a hand over his face tiredly. Mental battles were terrible.

"Is there anything else?" The droid asked.

"Nothing. Thank you." He watched the droid leave before he ran a hand over his face. Just a few more minutes.

Anakin continued to stare at Ahsoka's form, he wasn't sure how long he was there but it had been for longer than just minutes. His thoughts were finally interrupted by the sound of his comm going off. "Skywalker." he said a little dully as the world tried to pull his attention back to where it should be.

"Anakin, I've been trying to get a hold of you. I know your Padawan is in the Med Bay but I need you to get to the bridge." Came Obi-Wan's voice. "There's a meeting that's going to be happening that you need to be apart of it."

"Be right there." Anakin answered before he slumped. Duty always came first... With that he headed away, wondering what the meeting was going to be about and also hoping that it would be short.

* * *

><p>Rex moved into the area once it was 'safe' and went to stand in the space the General had been occupying for the past few hours. He sighed at the sight. It felt wrong for Ahsoka to be in there. She was always so active, chipper, and bold but now she seemed frail, delicate and so small in comparison to the tank she was in. He made a low sound before he rested his helmeted head against the glass. He was sure he'd be getting deployed soon. At least he knew he had to get back. One for the general reason of not dying, and the other to make sure he got back so he could see if she was okay. The Commander had grown on all of them during her time around them. She was someone he wasn't going to let go of easily. Even if she wasn't supposed to be attached to anyone it didn't mean that they couldn't be attached to her.<p>

He felt anger at the clankers and at having not forced her to take someone with her. From what he knew she had been shot and that was it. He had no reason to ask _WHY_ it had happened. People got shot, sometimes fatally other times not. It wasn't unexpected that eventually it would happen. It angered him that it had but it wasn't outside of the realm of possibility. Especially with what they all did.

Rex stayed where he was, continuing to stare at the tank that held Ahsoka. It was long enough that time had lost most of it's meaning. It wasn't until he heard foot steps nearing his location that he actually noticed where he was and what he was doing. He pressed his hand against the glass and then headed away. He would be back. Next time though he was hoping that she'd be out of the Med Bay and happy and smiling like she normally was.

* * *

><p>It was late into the night when Kix showed up to see Ahsoka. He looked over the information of what they'd done for her and then looked back up at her floating form. <em>'You should be sleeping.'<em> He scolded mentally as he noticed her blink before she seemed to settle again. He wondered if she had even noticed him. Part of him hoped that she hadn't.

"I know you can't hear me Commander, but I'm sorry." He told her, feeling like an ass at the knowledge that he wouldn't be able to say this to her if he was standing in front of her healthy form. He sighed and stayed with her, looking up at her masked face. He was sure Rex felt the same as he did, if only for other reasons. He hated feeling like he'd failed. Not that he thought _anybody_ liked the feeling, but in the quiet times like this it weighed heavily on him. He knew it shouldn't. He had done his job, he'd done his best. He also knew that even if he looked at her point blank and had said _'Commander. This could kill you.' _She'd have just looked back and told him that it hadn't yet so they could keep going. Then he'd still be here, feeling guilty over not having done enough. He chuckled humorlessly. "You're making me feel old today." He told her before he let his head slump.

_'At least you're not as old as Rexter?'_

His head jerked up and stared at her still and sleeping form. He had to go sleep, he was clearly imagining things. He turned away from her, wanting so many answers. Many more than he was sure he was going to be getting unless he gathered the courage to actually talk to her. Something that felt impossible at the moment. He ran a hand over his helmeted head as he walked away, feeling very much like a coward.

* * *

><p>Ahsoka missed the raid her Master, and General Kenobi participated in with Rex and Cody. She'd be able to hear the stories though, which was something she'd be happy about. She couldn't be everywhere and being away for the reason she had been was both acceptable and terrible to her for various reasons. The important thing to do would be to learn from this and to speak up when something happened. Even if she wasn't sure that it would have actually changed anything in this circumstance. Kix hadn't thought it was serious either. Not like he had let it fester for days, he'd only known about it for less then one when she'd collapsed. Hn... she'd talk to him once she was out, she felt pretty sure that he didn't want to see her here in the Med Bay. On the acceptable side of things, she was okay with not being able to leave the ship to fight if she was bad off enough to warrant time in a Bacta Tank. Only bad thing about it was the fact that the fluid seemed to get everywhere. She guessed that was the price to pay for such good healing, so she'd live with it.<p>

Ahsoka shifted in the med bed before she gingerly rolled over onto her 'good' side. Even if both were fine she was having a mental aversion to laying on her right . She closed her eyes knowing she'd have to get over it but right now she didn't feel like it. She looked over when the room door opened and smiled widely. "Master!"

Anakin moved over swiftly. "Ahsoka!" He cleared his throat a bit, slowing and gaining some of his composure. "About time you got out of the tank, I was going to call for reinforcements to go in and get you out."

She laughed at that and offered him a big smile. "How are you?"

He stood at the foot of her bed smiling at her. "I am doing better now. We had a successful attack. Hopefully for the next one you'll be there." he watched as she shifted around to get onto her back so she could look at him more easily.

"I will be!" She told him as she sat up. "I'm all excited to be out of here and doing the things I want to do again."

His smile widened. "That's what I want to hear from my Padawan."

"So you have good stories to tell me Master?" She asked as she quirked a brow at him.

"I have plenty. First though I have to go to a debriefing meeting. I made sure to tell Rex and Cody to come see you though since they're not going to be there. They'll keep you company until I return."

"Awww you came to see me before you went to your meeting?"

"Yes I did." He grinned at her. He didn't need to say that he wanted to check up on how she was and see with his own eyes that she was alright. "I'll see you in a bit Ahsoka. Don't stay up if you want to sleep, I will be here when you wake up if that's the case."

"Okay." She told him. She watched him go and then settled. She hoped things went well for Cody and Rex planet side. Her Master seemed happy though so that had to be a good sign. She watched the door for a bit before she settled into the bed more. Now she was trying to not be impatient about the two Troopers coming to see her. She bit her tongue in annoyance but perked up when she heard the door open. Yay! She kept a smile on her face even as she sighed. It wasn't them. She stayed still while the medical droid came in and did a few things silently.

Ahsoka rolled onto her right side idly to 'get away' from the door and from the droid. She smiled a bit when she realized that she'd done it and celebrated silently to herself. AH HA! Both sides were open for use again, as they should be. She then closed her eyes and sighed. Cody and Rex would get here when they got here.

* * *

><p>It was a short while later when the door opened again. She looked over excitedly and was surprised to see that it wasn't Rex or Cody but was Kix.<p>

"Hey." She said to him as she rolled over towards him. "Wasn't expecting to see you." When he moved right over to her and looked down at her with his helmet still on she frowned a bit. "Kix? What's wrong?" She felt her chest tighten at the silence she got she was not liking how he was acting. "Kix?"

"I need you to tell me something Sir."

She nodded silently, not liking how all of this was feeling. "What do you need to know?"

"Tell me what happened once you left the team and went down the chute." He had seen her up to that point and was sure he had seen nothing that caused what ultimately had happened.

That was the first time she'd heard a real demand from one of the troopers. She was going to ask why, was going to ask more questions but the feeling of being in trouble kept her from doing so. This was different then when her Master was mad at her. She looked up at the helmets dark visor, wishing she could see a bit of the man who wore it within the darkness.

"It went how it should have." She told him. Feeling very much like she was being interrogated. "Went down the chute, cut a hole where I knew I should. Got into the hallway, cut through the clankers and rushed the into the Communications Room. I got rid of all the droids in there, force closed the door and went about getting the information I needed to. I left and went to shut down the power grid. One of the clankers got a shot in right as I was about to shut off the power."

Kix continued to stare at her. "What were you feeling before you got shot?"

Ahsoka wanted to ask what this all mattered. "What was I feeling? I-I don't know. The rush of battle?" She said. "I was there alone.. and I'd just been shot. I felt dizzy, but I was so close to getting all of the droids off my back and, it's not like it was bleeding. It hadn't killed me. It wasn't something to worry about right then."

"_Before_ you got shot Commander."

"I-I just said! The rush of battle."

"The Rush of Battle is _NOT_ a medical term." He nearly snapped at her.

She hushed at that and looked away from him briefly before looking back up into the darkness of his visor.

"This is important." Kix said in softer and apologetic tones.

"I..." She thought hard. "I began to not feel well. When I was clearing out the Communications room. I got a burning feeling in my stomach... I had rolled over a console to use it for cover. I guess after that I wasn't feeling well? I wasn't noticing it to much. I was sort of busy with everything else."

She watched him afterwards hoping she'd said what he'd wanted to hear. After a few minutes of silence she shifted uncomfortably. "Kix?" She asked.

"Did you feel slowed down at all, sluggish when you were clearing out the second room of droids?"

"Why... yeah. I guess a bit, and warm." She tried to think back. "Why would you ask that?" She heard him mutter something and then turned away to leave. "HEY!" She went to get up. "Stop! I get to ask questions now!"

He only stopped when he heard the girl get up. "You are to keep to the bed." His eyes focused towards the still healing area. The medical patch was small, but he could see the slight discolouration of the scar around it.

"What's wrong Kix?" She asked. "And if you weren't rushing away I wouldn't have to get up!"

"Sit back down." He told her seriously.

"I will. _After_ you answer a question for me."

"Of course." It was his turn to wait, and he did without rushing her. He watched her fidget but she did look right at him, as if she could clearly see his face.

"What did I do to make you mad at me?" She asked. Wanting to add more, but that was the big question. Any other added words would have been suggestions but he didn't need that.

"I'm not mad at _you_." He told her honestly.

She watched him a moment longer. "Did you want to talk about it Kix?"

"Not right now Sir." He said, unable to find himself saying a flat out 'no'.

She nodded and then watched him head for the door then open it. She smiled a little when she heard him tell her to lay back down.

"Hey, Kix?"

He looked back at her trying to not sigh exasperatedly. "Yes Commander?"

"Thank you for coming to see me." She said before she stepped back, allowing the man to leave.

He stared at her for a moment. Unsure if she was talking about right now or when he'd visited her when she'd been in the tank. She couldn't have possibly been awake enough right? Then again this hadn't been the most pleasant visit. Really he was sure she couldn't be talking about either. "You're welcome."

She observed him as he didn't leave the room immediately, watching his form slump a bit against the door frame. To her he looked tired and worn both physically and mentally. Ahsoka moved over to him and gently took his hand, causing him to look at her. "Please." She said as she gave it a very gentle tug. "We don't have to talk right now." She told him. "Just, sit with me?"

He watched her for a moment before he let himself be moved away from the door and over to the bed. Kix sighed audibly when she made him sit on it's edge. He didn't feel like he had the strength to argue with her, or to make her stop what she was doing.

"Commander?" he asked as he felt her shift behind him. The sensation of someone who wasn't his brother this close and being not in his sight caused him to tense. The area around his spine and just below his shoulder blades seemed to chill as his back straightened.

Ahsoka went to remove his helmet. When he protested she leaned forward a bit. "Trust Kix." She told him.

It was his turn to shudder and he nodded before she removed his helmet. He closed his eyes briefly at the light change before he looked down at where she sat his helmet beside him. "What are you doing Commander?"

"Going to help you relax Kix." She said as she put her hands lightly against his temples and then drew them lightly over the tattoo on his left side while mimicking the motion with her right hand. "A dead droid is a good one..."

He could hear her smile at that, a small sigh coming from him as she felt over his head. He could feel her short nails tracing the bolt designs he had in his barely there hair. "Yeah." he said as he felt himself begin to relax.

Ahsoka could feel his growing calmness and smiled to herself as she began to hum a little nonsensical tune. Her fingers continuing their run over the stubble of his hair. Even if she didn't have any she could enjoy it when she had the chance. Though Kix had his hair astronomically short, just like Rex. She'd have to 'trap' one of the others. Hardcase was completely shaven like Jesse, Dogma would _never_ allow her to touch him this way, also his hair was too short to be fun. Echo or Fives would have to be it. She did like Fives' facial hair, and she wasn't having an awkward spell with Fives... he'd probably 'win' out.

"What are you thinking?" Kix asked, as he felt her lean fingers work along the back of his neck in small circular motions. He knew _something_ had to be stealing the Commanders attention, there was no other reason she'd be so quiet.

"Thinking about hair." She told him, smiling when she heard him laugh a bit.

"Is it really that interesting?" He asked as he turned his head to look at her.

"I think it is. You can wear it in so many ways." She smiled warmly at him before she put her fingers onto his temples and turned his head forward again. Her fingers then going to retrace along the designs. "You can do so many things with it."

Beside one of his brothers helping him shave his head to make sure it was even he hadn't been this close to anyone. Let alone having someone actually touch him for an extended amount of time. He was fine with it though, even as a little knot of apprehension grew at the idea of someone opening that door. His attention from the door was stolen when Ahsoka passed her fingers lightly behind his right ear. Even if the motion was identical to the one on the left, it was the touch on the right that made him shudder and jerk.

Ahsoka grinned. "Oooh is that a ticklish spot?"

"No it's not!" He said as he went to grab his helmet to prevent being molested further.

"Okay, okay wait." Ahsoka said as she put a hand over his before he could put his helmet on. "Sorry." She told him. She heard him sigh but it was light and partially amused.

"It's alright Commander." he said as he went to stand. He supposed it was only fair, after he found how ticklish she was planet side. He then donned his helmet and turned to watch her waiting until she laid down. "I really should go. Have a good evening commander."

"Thank you Kix. You too." Ahsoka watched him leave, and before he had left completely she felt that knot come back into him. She wished she could just reach over to him and take it out, remove it from her Trooper.

Ahsoka continued staring at the door even once it was shut, her blue eyes focused on it intently. She felt an odd mixture of bad and relaxed inside of her chest and stomach. She rolled over with a small unhappy sound once she had flopped back onto the bed. She hoped that whoever visited next was less tense. She promised herself that once she was out of the Med Bay she'd find out what was bothering Kix.

* * *

><p>It was only ten minutes later when the door opened again. Ahsoka also knew who it was even before they entered the room. She sat up and smiled widely in anticipation.<p>

Rex entered first and what he saw made the bad of the day fade off into the distance for the time being. That was a face anyone would be happy to come home to. "How are you feeling kid?"

She smiled at that. "I'm doing well. How are you two doing?"

Cody grinned at her and gave her a smiling nod. He was sure that he didn't have to be here as much as Rex, but it was still good to check on the little Jedi. He did have an interest in the happy girl to the point that she made others happy and he liked to see her succeed. Also if she was healthy and fine then he could make sure Rex knew that she was fine. He was sure the other still blamed himself, which didn't make any sense to him and wasn't any good.

"I think we're both doing good." Rex said. "It was a good battle and we got done what needed to be done."

"How long were you guys away?" She asked, realizing she had no idea how long she'd been here in the Med Bay.

"Two days." The two answered together.

She nodded and then giggled at their dual answer. "So not too long then. Happy to see you both though, feels like it's been a while."

"I know it hasn't been the same since you've been gone." Rex admitted.

Ahsoka looked away briefly as she smiled in embarrassment. Awww, that was the best thing to hear and she could tell that the other two could tell that too. She looked up when she heard the newest medical droid finally leave. Her attention turned to Rex and Cody, blue eyes examining them a bit. They said they looked the same but she didn't see it. Well okay they DID look the same, but they were still so different. She wasn't sure if it was only due to the force but Rex and Cody didn't come off as the same. Their smiles were different, the look in their eyes, they way they stood. The little things. All of that made them all very different from one another. That was one reason she liked them having and using names over the numbers they'd been given.

"Thanks Rex. I'm sure if I had been awake the whole time I'd have missed all of you guys dearly."

"Can't get enough of us clones huh?" Rex asked with a growing grin.

"Nope!" She said surely. "Never will have enough."

"Glad to hear that." Cody said. "Since you're stuck with us _forever_."

She laughed a bit more. "I'm fine with that." she watched them, her eyes lingering on Rex a bit. "So... stories?"

The two men watched her hug her legs to herself as she watched them expectantly.

"If you want stories you should ask Fives." Rex said easily.

"From what I've heard I don't think we want her hearing _any __stories_ from Fives." Cody told him.

Rex considered that a moment. "I think you're right." He said with a frown. Stupid Fives.

"Come on Rex. I've heard from others that you tell good stories." She accused him.

"Whoever told you that Commander is a liar. Rex is so bad at telling stories that it would make a Battle Droid self destruct." Cody laughed as he moved back quickly to avoid being hit by the other.

Rex sighed and looked from his laughing brother to the laughing girl. "Really. Ask one of the others." he told her with a small nod.

"Okay." Ahsoka relented. She inhaled deeply and then looked up at Cody. "Hey Cody?"

"Hm?" He raised a brow, watching her.

"Not that I'm not happy with seeing you, I really am. But... could I talk to Rex privately?"

Rex seemed to startle a bit at that and looked at Cody.

"Oh I see how it is. You like the one that matches your eyes." Cody looked away and then flashed her a wide grin. "Of course. I should check over things anyway and it'll give me an excuse to come by later. Have fun you two."

"Thanks Cody." She said as she waved and smiled more when he gave a little one back at her.

Cody hit Rex in the shoulder lightly before heading off.

Rex watched him go and then looked at Ahsoka. Unsure of what to make of things. "So ah... what did you want to talk about Sir?" He asked as he tried to not fidget with his helmet.

"Sit?" She asked as she scooted over a bit to give him some sitting room.

"I think that is irregular..." He told her..

"I'm the one in the Med Bay." She told him. "Please?"

He couldn't refuse a 'please'. Rex obliged and sat, feeling uncomfortable with this.

Ahsoka saw his discomfort and reached out to touch his hand lightly. Once her fingers touched his she felt the others hand jerk slightly. "Thank you."

"Ah, yes, well ah.. no problem." He told her as he looked at her and then down at his hand. His sight travelling over the orange fingers that rested lightly against his gloved ones.

She looked at his face and smiled more. It was odd to her seeing such a battle hardened person have such an expression of confusion and uncertainty. "I wanted to tell you I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Why?" His expression turned serious as his brows furrowed.

"Because of what happened. I worried you and the others." She looked away a bit and thought of Kix. She had a small but still growing tower of questions for him.

"That's not your fault. You can't help if we worry."

"Yes I know, but I still feel bad." She told him with a serious expression of her own.

He matched the serious expression. "Do not feel bad. You went out and you did your job well. That is the important thing."

She nodded at that and smiled more. Her eyes closing slightly as she rested back into the pillow.

Rex wondered how much sleep she'd been getting. He also considered telling her that he should go. Her look of tiredness told him that he SHOULD do that. He looked down when he felt her hand grip his a bit. His eyes looked back at her silent form. His brow furrowed more, unsure of what to make of what was happening. He looked towards the door. Sure that if someone came in and found this sight that all the explaining in the world wouldn't save his hide. "Commander..."

She let go of his hand, her fingers sliding away. "Sorry." She said again, this time quietly.

He smiled a bit at how tired he looked and he reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "Do not be." he paused. "And if you must, just think of when you'll be out, and you'll be making up for the time that you missed with us."

A wide happy grin spread across her young face and she nodded. "Okay."

When he saw her happy expression shift into a more serious one he frowned. "What is it?"

"Before you go I need to ask you about a couple of the guys. Echo and Kix. How are they?"

He thought over her words. He knew now about what had happened with her 'stumbling' upon Echo. "Echo is fine from what I've seen. He hasn't been having any difficulties, and has been doing his job well. If you're asking how he is since the 'incident' then I'd say it isn't effecting him." He had to take a longer moment to think over how Kix had been. "Kix has been Kix? He's been quiet since you've been hurt but I'm sure once he sees you that it'll help. Why?"

She nodded slowly at the information she'd been given. "I ask because I worry." She smiled at him. "About all of you."

"Is there something I should know?"

"If it's not effecting him in battle then I'd like to handle it myself. If I can't do anything then I'll make sure you know."

Blue eyes locked onto gold brown ones and for a long moment there was silence in the room. Rex was the first to look away. "You should rest Sir. I can come by and see you again."

"Okay." She told him happily. "I'm hoping to get out of here tomorrow."

"We'll see if you're right." He told her as he went to stand. "Be well Commander."

"You too Rex."

Once again she ended up staring at the door. She slumped into the bed and curled up. Unaware of any issues that were happening outside.

* * *

><p>Rex walked the halls as easily as they allowed due to how crowded they were. He was on his way to the cafeteria, trying to get into the halls that would still lead him there but weren't so congested with people. His eyes narrowed under his helmet when they fell upon Kix who was leaned up against the wall. The posture was telling that something was wrong. "Kix?" When the other didn't seem to notice he continued over and tapped the other on the shoulder. "Kix?"<p>

Kix looked over at Rex blinking at him. "Hello Sir." He said his voice low even as he tried to straighten up and look proper.

"What's wrong trooper?" Rex asked, his stance shifting a little into a more observant one.

Kix sighed. He knew better. "I'm, just having a moment of doubt." He told the other. "I know I shouldn't be. Still I'm having some problems with it." He ran a hand over his head. "I feel guilty and I shouldn't be."

Rex frowned at that. "Why would you be feeling guilty?"

"It's complicated." Kix looked at his brother and knew that such an answer wasn't going to fly with him. He inhaled deeply and then shook his head. "I..." He slumped. "Can we please not talk about this right now?"

Rex patted the others armoured shoulder lightly. "Alright. But we _will_ talk about it."

Kix nodded at that. "Yes Sir, and thank you."

"I'm heading for the Cafeteria, did you want to join me?"

"Ah, not right now. If I feel the want to I'll see if you're still there."

Rex nodded at that and then headed away from the other, leaving his brother with his thoughts. Hm... did the Commander know something he didn't? Kix had been acting a bit off since she'd been shot but it hadn't effected him in battle at all. Still, things that effected your off time would eventually effect ones on duty time. He'd have to look into it when he got the chance to 'corner' the other.

Kix watched Rex leave before he put his helmet back on and headed away to wander. He knew he should be doing something more productive than this, and was sure he'd find his way to the gym to do just that. For now though he was just wanting to wander, and see where his steps took him. Revel in the guilt he felt and roll over the ideas he had in his mind for a bit longer until he could stop wallowing in his own self pity. He absently raised a hand up to fuss with the area behind his right ear, his fingers '_thunking_' lightly into his helmet. He smiled at that and then sighed. In a way he was 'happy' for all this conflicting emotions and worrying, it really let him know that he was alive.


	3. Chapter 3 Fire and Steam

**Physis**

By: Elisa Ardell

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

Fire and Steam

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><p>Well it hadn't been the next day, but it was the day after that Ahsoka had gotten out of the Med Bay. Or more so she had decided it was time to leave when she'd woken up that morning and had found that she really wanted to exercise and actually DO something. Even if the Medical Droids had been telling her a firm 'no'. She was sure the droid had known that she was going to leave once it wasn't there standing guard. It had looked back at her before it had left the room, still that hadn't made her stay.<p>

The walk to her room was quiet and didn't offer much in the way of distraction. Something Ahsoka was thankful for since she kept expecting her Master or a group of Clones to stumble upon her and take her right back to the Med Bay. She could just imagine the things her Master would say. Which would inevitably lead her to call him up on the fact that it's okay for HIM to ignore Medical advice but not her. He'd then sigh and call her Snips in that tone he used and she'd still end up in the Med Bay.

Ahsoka was relieved when she finally got to her room. She easily moved over to her dresser before shedding her old clothes and pulling on a fresh set for her exercises. She looked towards the mirror before moving in front of it. Upon first glance she looked just fine, then she went to lift up her tank top and pull down her shorts a ways so she could expose the full extent of the scar she had. It wasn't huge, it wasn't too dark, but it was there. She ran her fingers over it lightly, the skin feeling smooth and not like what she was expecting.

"Couldn't even have a cool story attached to you." She sighed softly as she looked herself over a bit more.

Ahsoka stood silently in her room for a few minutes her mind going over the events that landed her here. Finally she managed a smile at herself, and then went about straightening her clothes once again. Getting shot by a droid wasn't too bad, she thankfully hadn't fallen on a stick. Now that would have been terrible, and her Master would have laughed and LAUGHED. She went over to her mini cooler and grabbed her water bottle before she slipped on her shoes. Ahsoka looked around to make sure she had everything she needed and then grabbed her exercise bag before heading out of her room.

The dark coloured hallways were still fairly silent this trip through them. Occasionally she would hear the sound of talking off in the distance. Ahsoka headed steadily towards the gym, her head wandering a bit as she passed a few pairs of clones who wished her good morning. She thought about Kix and Echo, wondering how they were doing and hoping that they were as well off as Rex had said they were. Neither had come to see her in the Medbay which was to be expected, still she hoped that things had blown over.

Ahsoka's thoughts were pushed away when got to the gyms doors. She looked around a moment before she leaned in and tried to listen to see if anyone was in there already. Typically there would be more than a few Clones at any given day. Today though it seemed empty or at least empty enough.

She walked into the gym and looked around the large area. There were a couple guys coming out of the showers, otherwise it was abandoned. She went over and got onto one of the many treadmills and went about getting it started. With her water bottle placed in the holder at the bottom of the controls, she clipped the power key's string to the base of her top and began to jog.

The silence of the room was only broken up by the soft sound of the machine running and of her booted feet hitting the thick rubber belt. Her eyes closed at the rhythmic sound as she began to run, the machine speeding up to keep up with her motions.

The world seemed to fall away as she ran, her body feeling good and light even with the bed rest she'd been forced to have. She felt so free right now and felt like she could fly. Close enough to the act that all she'd have to do was extend her arms to gain the lift she needed. That she could just leave and go anywhere. Where she'd go she didn't know, maybe just explore the never ending black that was there outside the walls of the ship.

She liked running, it was a place to be free, a way to feel completely limitless. Her thoughts sank into the pool of calm that was similar to meditation. Her mind letting go of the thoughts and worries that it had, allowing her to be completely at ease while she ran.

Jesse walked into the Gym and caught sight of the Commander. He didn't mean to but he ended up standing and watching her run silently for a bit. He had no idea how she didn't fall or hurt herself. If HE did that, he'd have what happened to Echo and Fives happen to him. He'd trip and slide off the 'mill in a hysterical fashion that nobody would ever forget. He smirked a bit at the memory, oh he'd never forget that. Finally he went to get onto one of the other treadmills himself, picking one that wasn't too close to Ahsoka due to not wanting to bother her. After a warmup walk he began to run at his own pace.

It wasn't much later that more of his team came in with a few other Clones. Mornings, whenever that was for a trooper, were the best time for exercise. Tup had gone to the weights, Fives and Echo were trying to out do each other on their own pair of Treadmills, Dogma was doing pull ups and Rex was doing incline sit ups. All the while Ahsoka continued to run steadily. It wasn't as fast as when Jesse had arrived, but it was still quick.

* * *

><p>Rex looked over at the running girl and smiled. It was good to see her up and about again, it was how she <em>should<em> be. Active and healthy. He was sure she'd be able to come out with them next mission which made his smile broaden as he went about getting himself into proper position. He laid flat on the sharp upwards incline, her running figure pulling his attention again.

Gold brown eyes watched the girl, and her lightly bouncing lekku. The rhythmic motion causing his mind to drift for a moment before forced his attention away from her. With a slowly exhaled breath he went to focus on his own workout.

* * *

><p>Within the calm pool of darkness that was her settled mind, an image appeared. It had no solid details, but she could tell that it was a Clone. There came a flash of surprise that bordered on pain and then it was over. Her eyes snapped open and she stared. Her eyes travelled to controls as she noticed that the treadmill was still on but it had come to a stop. She was standing on it, feet together with her hands on the support bars. She looked around a bit more the feeling of disorientation fading. She noticed the extra company she had and managed a smile at them as she sipped her drink before she grabbed her bag and headed off to the Gym's showers.<p>

Tup watched her go, a curious look on his face. He supposed that was one day to end a cool down. Still, Jedi were very odd people at times.

Ahsoka headed over towards the showers, gaining more than enough looks at that. The shower area for the gym was made for only the men, but there were a few curtained off ones that she would use instead of going all the way to her room. She had never seen any of the Clones use the curtained off showers, so either they never used them or they were aware that she and maybe other women would use them.

The shower area was broken up into one large changing area that had a wall of indentations that were used as storage space for the men to use on the right wall. The wall to the left was were the curtained off showers were, and straight ahead was a long mid chest high privacy wall. Along the back wall was a plethora of shower heads that got lots of use during the day that had small stall like dividers between them. Due to the privacy wall not reaching completely to either the rooms side walls, there were particular places where a trooper could be showering fairly clearly. Something she of course had _never_ noticed... Overall though the wall did it's job well.

Within the changing area were ten long benches that had storage space beneath them and had a bar with small hooks above them for the clones to throw their clothes or whatever over while they changed or waited for a shower to free up. Normally there weren't that many people leaving at once and people didn't tend to linger when they showered here unless it was pretty empty. Though she knew a few who did at the slower times of day.

The actual showers that the clones used and did linger in were apparently in the barracks area. She hadn't seen those ones of course but she knew that their layout and it's size was different then this one. She could only imagine how much activity they'd get.

Ahsoka grinned as she heard Jesse singing over at the wall showers. He wasn't bad or at least she didn't think so. She pulled the shower curtain closed as a small chill shook her even if the air was warm. She inhaled and exhaled deeply before sitting on the little bench that was provided. What had that been? She hadn't recognized the man in her vision but he was clearly a Clone. The eyes had been all that was clear but she knew 'who' they belonged to. She shook her head and went to shuck her clothes. She hoped that it was nothing, even if she knew inside that it wouldn't turn out that way. She would meditate on it later. She paused briefly her hand resting on the shower controls wondering if she should go shower in her own room but then shook her head. IF someone was going to do something she was sure that being here with all the men was the best place over being alone in her room. Even if who she had seen had been a trooper, she _knew _the ones here. Or at least the majority. She nodded curtly to herself and went about washing, allowing herself to relax thanks to Jesse's singing.

Echo and Fives were easily heard as they came in along with one of the other clones. The two 501st troopers were having another 'We'll talk quietly but not think about how the shower room is built and will carry our voices everywhere' conversation.

Ahsoka could easily hear the sounds of the men undressing. Her mind wandering a little before she focused again on what she was doing.

"Oh wow, that's a new one." Fives said in awe. He had seen the way his brother would talk proudly of his scars and the stories that went with them in the mess. That sort of attitude towards scars was unusual to say the least. Too many were far too judgemental about those that had them. Especially like the ones that his brother was now sporting.

"Yeah well, that's what happens when you're trying to take down a droid and you're too close to a bomb." The other trooper said. "Here's the back."

Echo whistled. "Bet you got quite the story to go with that don't you Brass?"

"I do. Which I'm happy about. Don't wanna be one of those guys who gets half their face blown off and have no good story to go with it."

"I think that's when you try to bribe your brothers into backing up a made up story." Echo said with a grin.

Ahsoka grinned at that and the short burst of laughter that followed.

The sounds of more showers starting could be heard.

"Hey! I wanted to shower there." Echo could be heard complaining.

"You could stand _there_ and shower Echo." Brass said with an amused tone.

"What? Why would I stand there?" Echo asked, clearly suspicious of the others suggestion.

"Because I'm sure the little Commander would like to get a view of the rest of you. Considering what else she's seen." Brass grinned. "It would only be polite to stand in easiest view of her wandering eyes."

Jesse's idle singing stopped. His soapy hands lowered from his body as he looked over towards where Brass stood. He, had not just heard that.

Ahsoka's eye twitched. Wh-WHAT? What had he just said?

Fives stared at Brass. "Whoa. You do _NOT_ say things like that. _Especially _about a commanding officer!"

"Oh come on. I think everyone's heard about '_the flasher_' by now." Brass said dismissively. "A little joking isn't going to kill anyone."

"Echo didn't FLASH anyone!" Fives snapped protectively.

Echo had yet to say anything his chest was too tight with horror to even breathe properly.

Ahsoka's eyes narrowed as she listened. She went about finishing up quickly. He knew she was here, she knew he was one of the ones who had watched her come in!

Brass scoffed at the others. "Sure whatever you say." He said as he finally started up the shower he'd be using. "And what are you looking at?" He asked Jesse. "Not like I said anything _that_ bad. Everyone knows of her like of the Clones."

Fives' jaw tightened at the tone the other used, it clear in his voice that he was insinuating something else of the female commander.

"You DID and keep saying things that are _that bad!"_ Jesse said sharply. "And you DO know that Commander Tano can most likely hear you too right?"

Echo put his head against the wall and started the shower not even caring if it was too hot or cold. This was NOT happening. Oh what if the Commander thought he'd done it on purpose somehow? What if she blamed him for not putting up a sign or something? He _knew_ it was ridiculous but right now he felt like he was waste deep in the thick of it.

"You're joking." Brass said to Jesse. "I'm not talking that loud."

"Not that it makes _any_ difference, but yes you are." Jesse's voice was tight.

"Ah... I didn't think she'd come in yet." He whispered. Which was still easily heard.

"That's a lie." Jesse scolded. "I am _sure_ that you _DID_ see her come in here, son. Unless you're going to tell me that she 'blends in'."

"Don't tell me what I saw." Brass bit out his eyes narrowing at the older male.

"I'll tell you what you saw when I know that you are lying." Jesse said in a heated tone.

Ahsoka's teeth ground together as her jaw tightened. She had heard that Brass had a mouth on him but she'd never actually heard it first hand. She never had to spend any time with him due to him being apart of a group that she hardly ever saw and him being new on top of that. She never wanted to discourage any of the men from having 'fun' even at her expense. She knew the clones could and did sort things out themselves if things went too far. She also knew they could say shit about her if they wanted could also say it within hearing shot of her if they _really _wanted. BUT to make fun of one of her men, and calling him a flasher of all things when it was _HER_ fault? A line had to be drawn.

She finished showering, finally cleaning off all the soap with her angry movements. She looked towards the curtain when she heard Dogma and Kix come in along with Tup. Great she should have finished a bit quicker. It wasn't like she was going to hash out this whole thing with Brass right here. She got dried off and changed into a pair of loose red pants and a black tube top. She then stepped out of the shower and looked towards where the guys were, making sure to grab her bag before she stepped out completely, making sure to make an attempt to give some privacy to Dogma and Tup who hadn't disappeared into the showers yet. It was pretty quiet so her 'target' be able to hear her easily without her having to actually walk closer. "Brass."

Kix knew she was in here but he still tensed when he heard her voice. He also looked at Jesse and Echo and Fives, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Jesse and Fives looked pissed while Echo looked like he wanted to curl up and die. None of those were good looks.

Brass said nothing when he heard his name said, ignoring the look his brothers gave him.

"Brass." Ahsoka said again, her tone low and serious. She would not be ignored.

"I'm showering Commander." He finally spoke.

Dogma stopped undressing once his shirt was off and stayed where he was. Not liking what was happening. The tone that he heard from Brass was completely disrespectful. That was not proper. He shifted his pants, and watched the small Commander. She had a look in her eyes that he had only seen from her in the middle of a battle. He could tell that he had just walked into the middle of things.

Tup looked at Dogma, a frown on his face as he tied the towel around himself a bit more. "You have any idea what's going on?" He asked softly. The others angry expression told him that Dogma didn't know anymore than he did.

"I need to talk to you. Once you're finished up, meet me out in the hall once you're done." Just, give him that and then he'd do it. Be professional. Stepping away and giving him time was not being weak. She still had authority.

"Yeah, yeah." Brass answered back flippantly.

"I'll give you another _five_ minutes." With that she went to leave the room. Not wanting to get angry and order him out now, even if that felt like the RIGHT thing to do.

"Wow, what a bitch." Brass muttered.

Ahsoka put down her bag. The sound of protests from the others could be clearly heard.

"BRASS!" Ahsoka ordered sharp enough to startle more than a few of the guys. Her kind demeanour being kicked aside. "Get. Out. Here. Now."

Brass wasn't the smartest but even he knew when he was in trouble... sometimes. "Ah, yes Commander." He moved around his brothers eyeing them when they gave him dark looks. '_What_?' he mouthed as he moved along, his hands tying a towel around himself. He wilted a bit at the look Dogma gave him. Damn, the man's angry face could be a weapon in of itself. "Commander, give me a few more minutes and then-"

"No." She told him seriously. "You forfeit the right. Now we can either do this here, now, in front of your brothers _or_ we can stand out in the hallway. Your choice trooper."

He didn't like EITHER of those options! "Neither. I'm going to tell you what is going to happen. I am going to go back and shower. You are not my commanding officer."

She stared at him. "Yes I am trooper."

Dogma shifted as he watched what unfolded before him. He didn't like this at all and he knew who would like it even less. His attention was drawn away from the Commander and the idiot when he noticed Rex walk in. He held off a wince wishing he could make himself and Tup scarce. He was also pretty sure that all the guys behind the privacy wall were listening even if they weren't looking back. Their cleaning had noticeably slowed down.

"You're just a runt, kid. I've heard about you. A big shot, think you can play with the '_big boys_'. You're a _child_." Brass growled. "You were given your title _because_ you're a Jedi. You didn't have to work for it! Not like what _WE_ would have to do. Do you really _BELIEVE_ you deserve your rank? Or any rank Higher than Rex, Cody, any of _us_?"

"This _child_ _**IS**_ your commanding officer whether you like it or not." She told the mostly naked and scarred man. She was not going to distracted with the other things he was saying. The words did bite at her though. She knew she had experience, that she had won battles and could lead. Still it was true and she did feel that she had this position because of who she was. "I don't know what I've done to offend you, or what I've done to make you _think _that you can say whatever you want about me while I'm standing right here. But it _is_ going to stop."

"You and what army Runt?"

She had to fight the urge to call him an idiot, or say that as a clone he was technically part of 'her' army. "Get out into the hall. I am not doing this here."

"I think you already are. And I'm not going."

"OUT. Into the hall Brass."

"No."

She used the force to pull him to her. "If you don't go, I will TAKE you out into the hallway. Do you understand?" Her eyes narrowed as he leaned in close to her, she could feel his breath upon her short montral. She knew he was trying to make her uncomfortable and she would not let him win. "Something you want to tell me Brass before you agree to go out into the hallway?"

Rex watched the scene, his bodies tensing as his knuckles cracked at the pressure of his fists clenching. He knew to leave this to the commander. Still he wanted to punch Brass in the face more than once and he was sure that the rest of the men wanted to as well. Jesse and a Fives finished up their showers and came out to dress. If something happened they wanted to be right here. They had their commanders back.

"Yes actually." Brass said thickly.

Ahsoka held the position with Brass. She looked up at him with her narrowed eyes. "What is that?" Oh this would be rich she was sure. Her brow furrowed for a moment. Those eyes...

He leaned in a bit more, his lips practically touching her skin as he began to speak. "I just wanted to tell you..."

Her eyes snapped open. If she were keeping track of people who had surprised her in her life, then Brass would have just earned himself number one spot. For the briefest of moments she felt something warm and wet against her montral. At first she had no idea what it was, then her mind quickly snapped to knowing it was his tongue. She shoved him away out of shock and surprise, her hand never touching him as he went flying back hard into the metal barrier.

She stared in shock for a moment. She knew it hadn't been that hard but still, what she'd just done left a cold feeling in her. She'd never used the force against any of the Clones outside of training, and even then she'd never pushed them violently against anything.

Rex went to move over only to be quickly stopped by Jesse. "Don't. You can do something else later if you want but you can't do it here. I know you know that. Even if _I _can say that he deserves it."

Rex made a very very low sound at that. He hated knowing the other was right about this.

"Oh did I offend you? Is it because I picked on your little _pet_?" Brass asked Rex with a forced smirk. He was sure it would have been natural if his body wasn't protesting at what had just happened to it. "You're the ones that gave her the first taste of 'Clone' aren't you?"

Rex's eyes narrowed at that. "You have crossed a line."

"There's something wrong with you." Fives told Brass.

"I'm just trying to shower." Brass said as he went to achingly get up, his back hurting.

"There's something deficient about you." Dogma said accusingly.

"Enough." Ahsoka said as she silenced the others before she looked back at Brass get up painfully. "The Captain is right." Ahsoka managed as she forced herself to not think about why Brass was getting up in such a pain filled way. "You have crossed an inexcusable line. You will come with me now."

Brass met her stare, his eyes hard and focused upon her blue ones. He finally looked away though clearly submitting to her. "Yes Commander."

She watched him steadily for a few moments longer, leaving the heavy silence between them. "Finish your shower, get dressed. Do not take long. I will be right here." She told him as she watched him quickly headed back to his spot.

Rex watched Ahsoka. When he gave her a concerned look and tried to approach her she turned her gaze towards him more fully.

She smiled tightly as she did her usual 'I'm fine' gesture.

He doubted that she was 'fine' or that she had this handled but here and now was NOT the place to broach the subject. He nodded once at her and then went over to the others that were out of the shower. He couldn't hover, nor could he ask if she needed assistance, which he was sure she would refuse even if asked.

She wondered what would have happened had she not been here. Brass would have gotten reported by Rex she knew that, but would that have been it? Or would there have been a fight? Brass was just asking for pain. She was sure that there was plenty of self control in the others to not have a brawl. They'd probably fight each other on the mats. She knew they called them one-on-one's. It was the allowable way of physically punishing those who had blatantly done wrong among the Clones.

Ahsoka tried to not let it show but she felt herself slump mentally. She wondered if something was wrong with him. Not that, that would excuse his behaviour but it would at least help as to why he couldn't stop his mouth. Though, once again it had come back to the fact that she had actually _heard_ things about this Trooper that she was only meeting in person today. She continued to hold her strong posture, her head and eyes looking away from where the men changed. She had never had to do this before, though she knew that there was a first time for everything. Her montral seemed to twitch and she fought to not reach up to rub at where it had been licked. She felt so, gross. Now she wanted another shower. She would probably do that later. Once she had finished with everything.

* * *

><p>The men who finished their showers and had dressed moved out to the exercise room. They were not wanting to leave yet. They stood quietly together, wanting to make sure that Brass actually did go with their commander the way he should, and not be even more of a complete ass.<p>

Finally the door opened and Ahsoka walked out with an armoured Brass walking obediently behind her. She said nothing to them and her face looked hard.

Brass looked at his brothers and at their sour expressions. What a bunch of hard asses. He rolled his eyes at them from behind his helmet before he looked ahead obediently. Now that things were being taken this seriously he did remain quiet as he was lead away.

He didn't look back when they left the room and continued following like a good Clone. His eyes searched the back of her head, more than once catching the jewelry that she wore. He wondered what sort of 'punishment' the little girl would think up of.

"Sir?" Brass finally asked after what felt like forever.

Ahsoka didn't stop her walk and didn't look back. "Yes Trooper?"

"I'm sorry." He told her. "I... shouldn't have said those things, and I should have shut up way before I did."

"Yes you should have."

"I will accept whatever punishment you give me."

"That is good to know."

Ahsoka bit her lip as they walked. He did seem genuinely apologetic. What he'd said though, what he'd called her and what he'd done. "You can _NEVER_ do what you did again. Do you understand?" She demanded as she stopped walking and turned towards him.

"I do Sir." He realized he was being stared at and he wondered what she was doing. He watched her back, uncertain.

Ahsoka turned away and continued walking.

"Are you going to give me a punishment?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Ah, where are we going Sir."

"You ask a LOT of questions Trooper." Ahsoka said.

He bowed his head at that. "Apologies Sir."

She lead him the rest of the way in silence to the main lavatory and then looked at him. "This ship is big Brass and the cleaning droids could use some help. I want you for the next single day worth in hours to be cleaning all of these at whatever time you are not eating, sleeping or out on duty. I WILL know."

He stared. "Y-you can't be serious."

"The next two days worth in hours."

His chest tightened as rage flared. "Yes. Commander."

She nodded, ignoring how tight his voice was. "I trust you can find the cleaning supplies."

"Yes. Commander."

Ahsoka headed out of the lavatory. Deciding to not add on the one last jab that she was going to be talking to his Squad Leader about what he had to do and what he had done. She was sure he'd find out as soon as he went back to the barracks.

* * *

><p>Rex didn't end up showering right away, he exercising a bit more to work out the aggression that he was feeling. If only so he didn't go and find Brass and end up in prison for murder. Okay no, he wouldn't go that far but he would teach his brother a lesson with his fists. So all he COULD do was work it out, and think over how it's not smart of him to hunt the other down. Finally he did get up to shower, he really had to go and do other things. Also he had to make sure the Ahsoka was okay. He'd give her a bit of space for the time being though, he wasn't about to crowd her. Maybe he could still challenge Brass to a match. Not like it would be the first or last time he'd done or do that.<p>

On his way out he noticed that Ahsoka's bag was sitting by the door. She must have set it down at some point. He went and picked it up. Heh, he had an excuse to see her and he could say it was to drop off the bag and to not check up on her. He smiled a bit, well that worked out well. Still, he'd do it later.

He looked down when his comm beeped at him.

"_Captain Rex? It's Casks. Are you free to talk?"_

He answered his comm. "I'm here Sergeant ."

"_Can I meet you at your office?"_

"I'll meet you there in half an hour." Rex said., knowing what the other wanted to talk about. He held off a low sound and headed towards the barracks to change and dress for the day.

* * *

><p>Rex was the first to reach his office. It was a small room but it wasn't cramped. He had a desk with his chair behind it, and in front there was another. He typically never got more than once person in here at a time though he did have another chair if two were to need him and they didn't just stand.<p>

He took his seat and waited, making note to talk to Kix today as well. He did hope the other would come to him though instead of having to drag whatever it out of him.

"Come in." He said as he heard the knock on the door. He watched as the red haired man moved in. Other than the hair colour Casks looked like any other.

Casks knew that Rex was close to the Commander, which made this even more stressful. Not that it would ever not be stressful to know that one of his men had assaulted the child commander.

Rex looked up at Casks and pinched the place between his eyes. "You should start. Because if I do, I'm going to start to yell."

Casks bit at the inside of his lip and then ran a hand through his thick hair. "The Commander came to see me and she informed me of what Brass had said and done. As well as what she'd punished him with." He continued to look at Rex. "She said she'd handle everything but I'm not sure that it'll be enough."

"What did she decide to do punishment wise?"

"Clean the lavatories for two days worth of hours." Casks said.

Rex nodded slowly at that. "There will surely be more done than just that." He shifted looking at him. "There's also more to you being here than just that Casks. What is it?" When the other didn't say anything he continued. "You're worried how this will look on you? How your new man has gotten into more than one confrontation in a short amount of time and how he's now mouthed off in front of and right to the face of Commander Tano?"

The 'Sir' that came from Casks was very clearly a 'yes'.

"I can tell you one thing for sure. If he's by some chance not shipped right back to Kamino, then you had better make sure starting right now that _nothing_ like this happens again. If it does or if he gets into a fight, does something that he'll get demerits for, YOU will also suffer for it." Rex stood and looked at the other seriously. "Keep him good for four months then you're off the hook."

Casks said nothing at the others words. All he could feel about this was shame. He knew that Brass was deficient he just had no idea until right now that he'd actually do something that stupid. "I will talk to him when he gets back to the barracks."

"You best do that. Is there anything else?" Rex asked as he steadily looked at the other.

"No Sir." Casks said with a small shake of his head as he looked away from Rex. "I'm sorry this happened... it never should have."

"You're right, it shouldn't have."

Casks heard the tightness in the others voice.

"Do not make me have this talk with you again about him. Understood?"

"Yes sir." Right now Casks really felt like he'd been called in instead of having suggested that they talked. Then again had he not he'd have been called here anyway. He turned and left Rex's office. Today felt like it was going to be a long one.

Rex slumped back into his chair as soon as the other had left. He put a hand to his face and groaned. Something else had _better_ happen to Brass. Or else he'd _make_ it happen. Even if the Commander didn't approve.

* * *

><p>Ahsoka finally got back to her room, feeling more tired than she'd expected to feel. Which she knew was silly. First day out of the Med Bay and she goes to the gym, that probably hadn't been the wisest thing to do. She flopped onto her bed and curled up, vowing to just rest for a few minutes and then she'd go find Anakin.<p>

While laying there in the silence and being free of everything Ahsoka could only think on what had happened earlier. Her hand went up and she rubbed at her montral, she swore she could feel his breath and his disgusting tongue. She bit her lip before she buried her face into her pillow. No. She could NOT feel this way. He had done it all his own and she had done a good job punishing him. Not everyone had to like you. She just, really hadn't been expecting that especially from a Clone. Nor was she ever expecting how bad it would make her feel. She wished she could have kicked him for it. She was sure that would have made all the difference but that was so very not something she could actually do.

She curled up a bit more and closed her eyes tightly. She could just get up and keep pushing herself but she knew she should just rest. She could do this. She was a Jedi. All she had to do was relax. Relax.

Relax...

She wasn't sure how long it had been when she heard a knock on her door and someone saying her rank. She sat up the blanket of tiredness slowly slipping from her as she went to position herself on the edge of her bed. Trying to be somewhat presentable. "Come in." She called, looking over to her right. She smiled widely at Rex. "Hey."

He had been expecting her to be standing, not sitting down on her bed of all things. Still he took two steps in so the door could close, thankful that the lights in her room were on almost fully. "Hey kid." He said as he came over. "How are you doing?"

She knew he wasn't asking about her being out of the Med Bay. "I'm fine." She said easily and with a smile. "I made sure he was punished and talked to who I had to."

"Have you told General Skywalker?" He didn't feel that it was important to tell her that Casks had wanted to speak with him about what he had seen. He was also sure it would only help in her feeling worse.

"No. But he doesn't tell me when he punishes people, I don't have to tell him." She looked up at Rex and blew out a small breath. "Is that why you're here?"

"I actually came to drop this off." He said as he held out her gym bag. "And I think you should mention it. I'm also sure you would hear it from him if someone licked his face."

She couldn't help but laugh. That sounded so ridiculous. It was something a child having a tantrum would do and mentioning it to someone when she had handled it already just seemed like overkill. Yes he had done it, yes she was a superior but there were far worse things that anyone including herself could do.

He watched her, she might have just laughed but he could tell from her eyes, and the way she moved that she was uncomfortable. That Brass had shaken her, and for that he wanted to beat the man into a bloody mess.

She stood up and walked over to Rex, giving him a tired but happy smile. "Thank you very much Rex and I'll take that under advisement." She took her bag from him and looked at it for a moment before she looked up. She noticed the look she was getting from the non helmeted male. "Hm?"

"I just wanted to say that I may call you 'kid' but I never think that you aren't capable. Those of us who have served with you know what you can do and how good you are. I have served with you on many occasions, and I believe you have earned the rank of Commander."

"I know Rex. I know I've done a good job. Thanks though, I really do appreciate hearing it." She told him honestly.

Rex nodded. "I know you know it. Just thought there was no harm in saying it." He looked down at her then continued speak. "I know I am only a Clone, but I can be here for you if you ever need someone to listen who isn't General Skywalker or one of the other Jedi." He paused a moment when he realized what that could sound like and rushed to add. "You always take the time out to try to listen to us. I want to return that to you."

He watched her face light up at that and noticed a colour shift in her face and on her lekku. That was for what he'd said wasn't it? He knew a darkening of features meant blushing. He hadn't meant to say anything that would embarrass her. Maybe it was just her being very happy? He then noticed her looking away. _That_ was embarrassment, which only helped him feel a bit awkward.

"Thank you again Rex." She said as she moved away to set her work out bag aside. She noticed that he had taken on a more 'observational' stance. "I really appreciate it." She felt a fiery feeling expand in her chest as well as tingling warmth begin to spread into her face and lekku. She had faced battles, enemies, Sith, her Masters anger, heck the Jedi Councils disapproval. Never before had it felt so impossible to look at someone. He'd ONLY said that he'd be there to listen! The reaction was so strong though. So much stronger and vivid than what she had been feeling when Kix had been examining her. That had felt awkward, this was different somehow.

Rex smiled at her words, he was feeling good. He didn't think he'd done anything but offer the truth. If she was going to be this happy with it then he was going to be happy with it.

Ahsoka finally found it in her to look at Rex.

Rex looked back at her, unaware of just how much like Kix he was feeling. "I should go Commander." He nodded his head.

She nodded. "Thanks for stopping by and checking up on me." She walked over to the door to see him out. "Have a good day Rex."

"You too Commander."

She watched him leave and then shut the door. After staring at it a moment she leaned against it. A warm tingly feeling was running through her and it made her sigh in an almost tired way. She had to meditate on this. That would be the smart thing to do. Still, knowing that didn't make her move away from the door. Instead she went back over to her bed. She was sure that by now her Master knew that she was out of the Med Bay. She could grab some actual sleep and be awake for when he inevitably came to see her.

* * *

><p>Brass heard the lavatory door open and his eyes narrowed anew. Oh, he wanted to kill someone, even if it wasn't a clanker! "If you make a mess, I will HURT YOU." He bit out in anger as he continued to stare at the floor he was cleaning. By now he was sure he'd scared away every potential person from coming in here with how he'd chased off others. Surely the whole ship knew that nobody was to come into the lavatory he was cleaning.<p>

He was completely caught off guard by what happened next. He hadn't been expecting to be thrown forwards by an invisible force and tossed violently into the wall that had been ten feet away of him. His form crumpled to the ground but even stunned he went to stand back up and see who was attacking him. His plan wasn't able to be followed through upon when he was thrown against the wall again with more force. He closed his eyes tightly at the pain. He was thankful that he had his armour on since this was still hurting immensely.

Brass cried out in surprise when his helmet went flying off, he couldn't turn his head to see where it had landed but it sounded like it had gotten in some distance and bouncing in before it had stopped. He tried to shift, tried to fight against the pressure that held him so solidly in place but nothing was working.

His heart was thudding in his chest loud enough where he was sure it was drowning out most of the sounds he should should have been able to hear. His smart mouth was unable to find or form any words, leaving it opening and closing uselessly against the cold dark metal wall. His eyes widened when he heard steady footsteps moving towards him. Instincts told him that they were far too large to be the Commanders. If not her then who's?

"If you even _THINK_ of touching Commander Tano again. I will kill you. Do you understand?"

Brass couldn't find the words to say that he did. His head trying in vain to find them and to place the voice that seemed to echo oddly in his ears and head.

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND!" The Jedi roared as he thumped the Clone against the wall again.

"I DO! I do understand!" He hadn't been in many battles yet but he'd believed he'd been in enough to know how things felt. He'd been created and trained to not falter and to not give into fear. For the first time ever in his short life, he was in the grip of a crippling fear that he couldn't imagine ever being topped. "I-I wont ever do it again!"

"You had best not."

Brass was dropped to the floor and remained where he was, too scared to look back even after the sounds of the Jedi leaving came and went. He curled up a bit more, his head leaning against the wall that it had been so brutality pushed against. Scared and angry tears fell onto his armour as he began to tremble.

"I'll get you for this." He promised to himself as he forced his shaking form to stand up. His legs felt weak and his head felt dizzy. He was unsure if that was due to the hit it had received or due to terror that he was still feeling. He finally found it in himself to look at the door, his eyes hard. "I _will_."


	4. Chapter 4  Nightmares

**Physis**

**By: Elisa Ardell**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

**Nightmares**

* * *

><p>"How is it that I'm watching over an Outpost again?" Fives asked rhetorically as he stared off. "I want to be fighting something. Not just sitting here doing nothing."<p>

"You sound like a Shiny, Fives." Echo gently prodded. "And if the Jedi are right, which they usually are, big activity will be heading our way soon."

Fives sighed and thunked his head against the work console as his hand shifted to check the outside view. It was all clear that day too. Thankfully they weren't in a listening post.

He sat back and looked at Echo, watching the other for a long moment before he spoke. "How do you keep reading manuals. How is there always something for you to read?

Echo frowned. "There's always rules and regulations to read, and don't you take out your bad mood on me. I'm being nice keeping you company while you're being unbearable."

Fives groaned and put both hands to his head as he rested back in the chair, teetering it slightly. "AARGH!"

Echo sighed and lowered the manual in his hands. "You haven't eaten yet have you?"

"What makes you say that?" Fives asked, not really wanting to hear it.

"You get fussy when you haven't eaten." The look he got for his words told him that he had hit a nerve.

"Fussy? I am an ARC Trooper!" Fives said as he stood. "ARC Troopers do NOT get fussy!"

"I'm looking at one that does." Echo began before he backed off quickly while his brother moved around the console. "Whoooa... Fives. We all have bad days. I'm not saying that it'll effect you in battle, but I know YOU know that we've known each other for our whole lives. I _know_ you."

Fives slumped at that. He knew Echo was right. "It's not that I didn't eat..." he said as he moved back towards his station.

Echo moved over towards him, leaning on the front edge of the console while his brother re-took his seat in front of him. "Is it the nightmares?" He asked gently.

Fives' silence told Echo that he was on the mark.

"It's just us Fives." Echo gently encouraged. "Which one was it?"

Fives continued to be silent for a few minutes more before he looked down on the console more fully. "It was a new one." His voice was soft.

Echo gathered a lot from the way his brother was not looking at him and with how he was sitting. "Did I die?"

Hearing his brother ask that tore at him, and the fact that he wasn't looking at him almost made it feel like his brother wasn't actually there. He put the palms of his hands to his eyes and forced a laugh. He wasn't about to do the other thing that was threatening to happen if he didn't do something. Fives heard Echo walk around the console and move over to him.

"I'm right here Fives." Echo assured him as he thumped his brother on the back. "You're not going to get rid of me that easily." He told him.

Fives nodded at that. "I know." He didn't know that, but right now he willed himself to focus that his brother was right there with him right now. As a Clone he knew better than to worry about the 'future'. A concept that they didn't have the luxury of thinking about. He stood up and inhaled shakily looking at Echo.

Echo smiled at him as he put his hands onto his brothers shoulders and gave him a good shake. "There." He grinned.

Fives did grin back and grabbed his brother into a tight hug. He wasn't a Jedi, a nightmare was just a nightmare and not some sort of possible premonition. "Lets wait a bit. I'll be relieved then and we can go get some food and Caff."

Echo nodded. "Sounds good." With that he went to let his brother go from the hug they were in, allowing Fives to continue it a moment longer before they both went back to what they had been doing.

"I still want to be blasting something..."

"Don't start that again!"

* * *

><p>Ahsoka walked into the cafeteria and went to poke around at what they had, hoping for some tea or a way to make what she had brought with her. She looked back at the 'new' group of Troopers. She was the only one who hadn't met the squad before, and the cafeteria was so open she was sure it would be a good place to have their first meeting. She grabbed some of her food and put on some tea for herself before she finally headed over to the table where some of them were sitting.<p>

"Commander, over here."

Ahsoka stopped in her steps and looked over towards Hardcase. She looked at the troopers she'd yet to reach and then headed over towards the one she knew. She offered him a warm smile. "You never call out for me." She told him as she sat down. "Have something you want to talk about?"

Hardcase looked at the female and ran a hand over his head with a small laugh. "Ah... just would rather you sit with me then _them_."

"Them?" She asked as she tilted her head up at the tone he'd used. "Is something '_wrong_' with them?" Now that she'd met Brass she was more aware that there could be 'unpleasant' Clones but she hadn't had any issues with these ones since she'd arrived. She looked over as a scarred member of the other team entered the room. The way he walked and carried himself seemed wary, she also didn't quite like how he went to sit on his own once he had his food.

"They're the leftovers of that _traitor's_ squad." Hardcase said with thick contempt. "Have to make sure that they're not like him."

"Braga's squad?" Ahsoka asked with a quirked brow.

Hardcase frowned deeply and gave the Commander a searching look. "Did General Skywalker never mention it? Slick I mean?" He asked as he held off a heavy sigh. "He told you to be careful. Right?"

"Well yeah... but I thought that was for what had happened with Brass." Since she was sure he had heard about what happeend by now. Thankfully he hadn't brought it to her attention which she took as a good sign of having done the right thing punishment wise. "What should I know Hardcase?"

"Their squad leader, the traitor turned against his brothers. Put his team, Rex and the rest of us into danger. He betrayed all of us and what we stand for."

"I had heard a bit of that." Ahsoka could easily tell how upsetting that was to the male before her, and could only imagine how upsetting it would be to all of them. She held off a small sigh and nodded at him. "I guess that's what I'm being careful of then. Making sure they don't do anything?"

Hardcase nodded. "That's for _us_ Commander. I'd prefer if you just stayed away from them."

"Is that an _order_ Trooper?" She asked as she offered a little smile at the usually boisterous man.

Hardcase winced and looked down at his food and Caff briefly before looking back at her. His gold brown eyes locking onto hers seriously. "They may be fine, and they've cleared the talks they've gotten thrown at them. Still, if someone like Slick can hide among us until he's found out. I think more could and I'd bet that he'd have friendlies in his own squad than outside it."

"I see you're point."

"But?"

"I do like giving someone the benefit of the doubt Hardcase." She said as she watched Dogma and Tup walk in together. She noticed the look the rule abiding Clone gave the other squads Troopers. "I think they're scared. How would you feel if Rex..."

Hardcase was going to give her a look anyway due to how that sentence started out, but the way her voice died off made him tilt his head. He watched her contemplative look.

Ahsoka was quiet for a few minutes as her mind turned the idea over as conflicting emotions blossomed within her. She knew she'd be shocked and she'd probably yell. Feel betrayed and angry. She looked over towards the clones that sat quietly at the other table. At how their heads were low and how one of them shied away from her look.

"Commander?" Hardcase asked as he tried to draw the girls attention back to him.

She exhaled a slow breath. "To answer my own question Hardcase. I'd be afraid. I can't speak for any of you but if my Master did something that got him removed and everyone was waiting for me to exhibit 'questionable' behavior... that would not be fun, and frankly fairly terrifying." She gnawed on her lip a bit. "Having to walk on eggshells without looking like you are for fear of someone saying 'You're acting strange and suspicious', how long do you think you could do that before it would start to effect you?"

"I wouldn't have to do that Commander." Hardcase said flatly.

Ahsoka sighed at him. Trying to not think badly of the man who she was sure was purposefully being difficult. "I hope you and everyone else never have to." She heard the beep over at the Caff machine and it managed to draw a small smile to her tense face. "Excuse me a minute."

She was thankful for the distraction as she got up and headed over to the table that had the Caff machines. It was amazing to her how one could talk themselves into a corner. Ahsoka was sure it also wasn't any good that she could more easily think of her Master betraying the cause than Rex. One way or the other it was because she either though that Anakin doing something like that as more outlandish than Rex doing it, she cared for Rex more than her Master, or the worst one was that she'd not be surprised if Anakin did do it. Her stomach gurgled a little in displeasure at how tense she felt as she poured herself her tea.

"Commander?"

She looked up and back at Dogma and smiled at him wearily. "Hey. How are you?"

"Begging your pardon but better than you Sir?"

She laughed at that, the others bluntness catching her off guard. "I look that bad do I Trooper?" Dogma was 'weird', he was so official and proper not at all like the others she knew. Though they'd grown on her and she on them. Dogma and herself didn't have that yet, nor did she and Tup. Still the other seemed warmer than Dogma. "Did you have something you wanted to talk to me about? Or are you here to criticize how I look?"

Dogma shifted a bit, taking on a more official stance. "I could talk about the impracticality of your clothes Commander but that is not the reason that I came over."

"That's for another time is it?" She asked with a little teasing tone as she added some honey to her tea. "Continue Trooper."

"You should know this already, but keep your eyes open." He warned her seriously. "I don't trust them."

"If you're talking about Braga's team over there, then you and Hardcase have something in common." She told as she fought the want to start laughing again at the deeply disapproving scowl that spread across Dogma's face. "I have been warned, and I thank you for your concern." She offered the grumpy Clone a smile. "I can handle myself Trooper, go eat and enjoy your meal." She told him before she walked away from the man, having to do that so she didn't continue teasing him.

Hardcase sipped his Caff and looked back at Ahsoka as she sat down. "You okay?"

She opened her mouth to say yes before she sighed at him and rested her head against her hand. "I think it's going to be one of _those_ days." or worse, one of _those_ missions.

He smiled lopsidedly at her. "Dogma or in general?"

"Don't start worrying about me and Dogma." She told him before she sipped her tea and then went to eat her food in peace. " Everything will work out." She poked at her food a bit while her thoughts wandered. "Mm! Do you know where..." Oh which one could help her out. "Ah, who I'd talk to about gaining access to your guys' helmet video files and all the stuff like that?"

Hardcase quirked a brow at that. "Ah... General Skywalker? Rex? I'm sure you can also access them with your clearance."

She nodded at that having not thought of trying it herself. If that didn't work she had hoped for other options than Rex of her Master. "Thank you Hardcase." She said as she went to put her tea onto her tray and stand up. "I'll talk to you later and enjoy you're meal."

"Yes sir." He watched her head away with her food which made him frown more. What had that been about? He looked back towards Dogma and Tup, giving the scowling man a frown of his own. What had the other said? What did the Commander want with the video files? Heh, seemed like he might be able to do something interesting here after all. He downed his Caff and stuffed the rest of his food into his mouth before getting up and going to follow the Commander discreetly.

"What do you think he's doing?" Tup asked as he saw Hardcase go for the door quickly before slowing down in an attempt to look casual right before he stepped out.

"Probably something idiotic." Dogma said with a deepening scowl as he watched his fork poke at his food. He continued to stare before a deep groan came from him. "Come on. We can't let him get us all into trouble. Again."

Tup bit his lip at that and looked at his unfinished tray.

"You have rations for a reason." Dogma told as Tup got up to get rid of his as well.

Tup slumped and went to follow the other out. He didn't hate rations but he didn't like them either. Still he did hate getting into trouble more. He wished more people could just be like Dogma. Maybe not JUST like him but, enough like him to make them think things through better.

* * *

><p>Ahsoka had no idea that she was being followed as she made her way through the halls. She peaked into the Comm room, happy to find one working Clone in it. She smiled at him as he tried to stop her from seeing that he'd been spinning around in his chair. She didn't mention anything to him though as she moved over to the station farthest from him and started it up.<p>

The Clone looked over his shoulder and once he was sure it was safe, began to spin around in the chair again. There was NOTHING coming into or out of the station right now. He quirked a brow as the indicator light went off on his console to prove him wrong. He checked it and saw that it was just the Commander doing something at the work station. He blew out a breath sure it was boring Jedi stuff before he went back to his idle spinning.

* * *

><p>Hardcase paced outside the Comm Room door before slumping. Looks like his little 'adventure' had come to an end. For now that is. Unless he could think of a way to sneak in without being noticed. Hmmm.<p>

"What are you doing?" Dogma demanded of the pacing clone.

"What? I'm not doing anything! What are _you_ doing?"

Dogma stared at the 'dumb' Clone. "Making sure _YOU _aren't going to get us into trouble."

"Me? I'm not going to get us into trouble. YOU'RE the one that causes trouble Dogma."

The other scoffed. "ME? I do _NOTHING_ of the sort!"

"Really?" Hardcase asked as he leaned into the others personal space. "I'm surprised you actually have the guts to ask me what I'm doing. You're so good at slithering around and silently judging."

"What's that supposed to mean?" The scowling man demanded.

"It _MEANS_ Dogma that I would have guessed that you'd just RUN OFF to _taddle_ on me to one of the Jedi. You're good at that aren't you?"

That took the fight out of Dogma's sails quickly and he backed off. He looked away from Hardcase unable to think of something to say.

Hardcase shifted a bit. That was a low blow and he felt bad about it as soon as it had left his mouth. "Sorry."

Dogma didn't say anything to the others apology, still he didn't snap at him for saying it. "I'm just trying to be a good Soldier." He said softly.

Hardcase shifted awkwardly and found something of interest to look at on the wall. "Yeah... I know." he chewed the inside of his lip. He, still hadn't found it in him to completely forgive Dogma for what he'd done on Umbara. He knew that wasn't good, he knew that Fives and Jesse had gotten passed it already but he just wasn't able to forgive it all so easily. Maybe they hadn't really forgiven him but were just better with faking it. He looked at Dogma and sighed at him, he was frustrated with himself now.

Tup watched the two as they fell back into silence. After what felt like forever he shifted a bit. "So ah... what _are_ you doing here Hardcase?"

"Trying to fill in my time with something non boring?" He offered honestly.

"What would that be?" Dogma asked as his frown deepened.

"You know Dogma, our faces _CAN_ contort into other expressions. Like, I dunno, e_very expression_ besides a frown and scowl?"

Tup laughed at that and then shut up as soon as Dogma's face turned to him. "Sorry Dogma."

Dogma rolled his eyes. "I asked you a question Hardcase."

Hardcase looked at the door and then at them before he stepped closer. "The Commander asked about video files, she didn't offer any other information but that. So I wanted to know what she was doing."

"You really have nothing better to do than spy on the Commander?" Dogma inquired.

"Ah... well. When you word it like that." Hardcase groaned.

"If you really want to know what she's doing you should ask the Comm Officer that's in there-" Dogma looked back at the feeling they were being watched while the other two did the same. There was a long silence between them before they looked at each other. He then looked as the door opened, his scowling expression turning towards Hardcase.

"Hello." Ahsoka began. "Any reason you three are standing out here and not coming in?"

"Just talking Sir." Hardcase said with a nod.

She gave him a look, they'd sounded like they had been arguing. "Is that true Dogma?" She frowned at herself. She'd just done what Rex had done to her when she told him she was fine and he asked Kix if that was true! "Ya know what never mind." She tried as she waved her hands in front of herself. She frowned more before she leaned a bit, looking between Dogma and Tup, she swore she'd just saw something.

"See something Commander?" Tup asked as he looked towards where she was peering, seeing nothing out of the ordinary himself.

"Maybe.. I don't know." She said as she straightened and watched them. "I thought I saw something move along the floor."

"They do say that this outpost is haunted." Hardcase said as he wiggled his fingers as he spoke spookily.

"I might be a youngling but I'm not _that_ young." Ahsoka told him at his attempt to scare her. "Besides everyone knows that ghosts aren't real."

"Don't Jedi's turn into ghosts?" Tup asked. "Which I personally find kind of frightening."

"A Jedi ghost is different, and we don't all do it." Ahsoka said. "Also you don't have to be afraid of them... and I think they only appear to other Jedi."

"How is a Jedi ghost different from a normal ghost?" Hardcase asked asked. "It's a dead person you can see right?"

"Well... yeah... but, it's different." She frowned a little to herself. "It's a Jedi thing."

"Well if Jedi can be ghosts can't bad Jedi?" Tup asked. "Then you _should_ be afraid of them right?"

"You mean a Sith?" Ahsoka pondered that as she tried to keep up with this very odd conversation. "I... don't know... maybe?" She'd never asked about that. "Okay wait. Are you guys REALLY suggesting that a Sith is haunting this outpost?"

"No. We're just pointing out that you _KNOW_ Ghosts are real and you're dismissing the idea of it anyway." Dogma said, pleased that he got a nod from Hardcase.

Ahsoka stared at them and then looked around a bit. "No offense at all guys, but I think there's only one type of person who might have spirits here and do you think your fallen brothers have nothing better to do than to haunt yourselves?"

"Sounds like something Hardcase would do." Dogma said in an unimpressed tone.

"HEY! Okay fine, maybe I would do it but still." Hardcase tilted his head a bit. "Go haunt Kamino... scare all the Cadets." He grinned wolfishly.

"I think Ghosts are bound to the place they die in." Tup said with a frown.

"See that's how they get to be _vengeful_ ghosts." Hardcase said as he tapped the side of his head with a finger.

Ahsoka ran a hand over her head. "Oookay... I think it's time for you guys to do your work or wander or whatever it is you should be doing so I can get back to _my_ stuff before I have to go out on patrol. And if you see any ghosts, go ahead and call me." She told them. "I'll make sure it's not a Sith or whatever for you."

Hardcase laughed at that. "Yes Commander." They stood watching her as she watched them back.

"Well go." She prodded before she went to head back into the Comm room with a sigh. Haunted, HA. Still, what had she seen, or thought she'd seen?

Hardcase watched the door to the Comm room close before he eyed Dogma and Tup. "So, who's going out on patrol with the Commander? I know I'm not."

"Not us." Dogma said.

Hardcase tilted his head in thought. "Wonder who it is."

"Sounds like something you could '_investigate_'." Also it sounded like something that he wouldn't get in trouble for looking into. Knowing Hardcase though it would lead to trouble and then he'd say 'But Dogma told me to do it!'. Still he'd take the risk.

Hardcase nodded at that and headed off to snoop around. He paused and looked back at Dogma. "Hey Dogma, Tup."

Both men looked back at him. "Yes?"

"You guys don't actually believe in ghosts right?"

"What do you think?" Dogma asked before he headed away.

* * *

><p>Ahsoka had ended up staring at the list of video logs and written files that she could access for a long time. Instead of checking out most of them she'd ended up reading up on Slick. Her head rested on her propped up left hand, while her right scrolled the information when she needed to.<p>

She read and re-read Rex's and Cody's report on the events. Both men had said the same things but their writing was different. She'd never actually sat down to read the Reports that Rex handed in weekly. Something she realized she'd have to fix. Two parts struck her though in the reports. Cody talking about Rex fighting with Slick and Rex getting his leg dislocated. The other part was what they had said about the men in Slick's squad.

Chopper, Sketch, Punch, Gus and Jester. She focused on how they had decided Chopper was the traitor and how Slick had tried to make that more apparent due to Chopper's nasty habit of collecting droid fingers. She wondered why he did it. She went to call up his information to see if he had a log or a recording of his questioning when a shadow fell over her. She looked back and smiled. "Master. How was your scouting?"

"It was... lovely." he laughed. "You should count yourself lucky, my toasty little Padawan."

"About?" She asked.

"No patrol for you tonight." He told her. "Haven't looked outside recently have you?"

"Ah, no I haven't. Guess time got away from me. Why?"

"Huge storm has started up, we were lucky to get back in one piece. I'm not about to send you out into it. Though if you really want to you can go check it out yourself."

Ahsoka took the opportunity to turn away from him and shut down what she was doing. "I think I could use the walk."

Anakin looked at the console, willing it to tell him it's secrets. Though it would be easy enough to check. Had to see if his Padawan had been doing her studying. She was typically good at doing that though so he could hold off on doing it until after he'd relaxed a bit. He watched her get up and begin to walk away. "Hey! Take your tray. I'm not your mother."

She laughed and went to grab it. "I'm glad. You'd make an ugly woman." She teased. "See you later Master."

"Yeah." Anakin yawned as he stretched before slumping into the chair that Ahsoka had been in. Yeaaah, it was just time for relaxing at the moment. He cracked his neck and looked over to watch his Padawan leave.

Ahsoka went for the door and paused when it opened. She looked up at Rex and grinned widely. "I hear it's a little cold out?"

"That's one way of putting it Commander." Rex nodded at her. "I hear you're not going on Patrol after all?"

"No, not with the weather how it is. You guys spot anything?"

"We were on the trail for something when the storm conveniently hit. Convenient for what we were following that is. We'll find it again once the storm is over."

"I'm sure you will." She said up at him. Her eyes searched the visor, even if she knew by now that she would never see their eyes she couldn't help but always try. "You... need to eat at all?"

"Ah... not yet Commander." Rex said as he realized the General was not far away. He nodded at her. "I have some work to do first."

Ahsoka nodded back before she went to step around him. "Have a good one Rexter."

"Sir." Rex watched her go and then looked at the room before him. He was thankful for his helmet because it hid his frown. Why the hell had he come in here in the first place?

* * *

><p>Ahsoka had gotten distracted by ideas by the time she'd gotten into the cafeteria. She'd taken it upon herself to do some research. Once she'd selected a corner of the cafeteria she had 'sprawled' out there to do her work. With easy access to tea and some food she'd be able to read until she passed out from exhaustion.<p>

With the sound low she listened to the questioning the men got on Kamino. It was, different than what she'd expect. There were questions being asked that she'd never ask if she was doing the questioning. She understood why they were being semi-interrogated but the way that the questions were asked... something seemed _wrong_ about it.

"_I-I don't know why I collected them. It was wrong of me and I know that. I will not do it again."_

Ahsoka's eyes narrowed a bit. He sounded afraid, surely collecting droid fingers wasn't _that_ bad. She'd picked up stuff a few times, was this something she should make sure nobody ever found out about?

"_It says in the report that you said something about 'wanting something back'. Do you feel you have the _right_ to ask for something?" _There came a long silence from the clone. _"I asked you a question. Do you feel you have the _RIGHT_ to ask for something?"_

"_No."_

Ahsoka frowned deeply at that. She could understand the want to take something back. They were just hunks of metal, people could find peace within the most simple of things. Would it be so bad if people did collect them? Then again his team had jumped on him for doing it, one had called him 'deficient'. She now wondered what else they weren't allowed to do.

She tapped through the recording, her brow furrowing at how everyone else had one interrogation recording, yet Chopper had three. They were time stamped far apart from each other as well. One was seven hours later, and the next was twelve after that. She watched the recordings, seeing the clone become more stressed.

"_...I wanted something back. I was wrong in what I did. I will never do it again."_

"_During the first questioning you said you didn't know why you did it."_

"_I had forgotten-"_

"_Do you forget a lot?"_

"_N-no maám."_

"_Are you sure? Would you remember if you did?"_

"_I... I don't know. I am sure though that I'd have noticed gaps in my memory."_

"_Hm."_

Ahsoka didn't like who was doing the questioning. She noticed that Chopper's questions focused more on what he'd done with the droid fingers than what he had seen or felt about Slick. They'd gotten that over with in the first questioning.

She leaned on the table top a bit more as she watched the rest of it. It wasn't until halfway through the third questioning that she realized that they were stress testing him. They were almost torturing him, leaving him in a room alone for half an hour before talking to him more. By the time it was over the poor man looked very shaken yet very relieved. He had stumbled quickly out of the room his torture seemingly over. She guessed it was something for her to watch out for, make sure none of the Clones did that. Not like she was told what they could and couldn't do. She knew what she could and couldn't do but that was purely by the Jedi Code and not by anything else.

Ahsoka looked around the empty cafeteria a bit before the urge to take a walk filled her. She got up and put her stuff away before she headed aimlessly down the halls. It was so quiet right now that she could hear the wind blowing outside. It was warm inside the base or at least warm enough, yet due to her thoughts, she felt plenty cold inside. She was at a loss to understand the new information she'd filled her head with in the last few hours. She'd have to meditate on it.

As she walked towards the room she and Anakin were sharing she was hit with the feeling of fear. She moved along a bit quicker until she came to one of the doors. She opened it quietly and was greeted with the sound of soft breathing and snoring. These guys were a lot louder than the ones she was used to. She moved in quietly, wincing when the door shut behind her. She looked back at it and then around the room, thankful that nobody seemed to have woken from that. It was of course dark and she closed her eyes for a minute, before opening them again. Once she was sure they were adjusted enough for her to not trip and wake everybody up she moved along slowly before finding the source of the fear.

The Clone was curled up in a tangle of sheets, small distressed like sounds came from him. Ahsoka had never actually seen anyone having a nightmare before, and it was something she was unsure she'd want to see again. Especially from someone that she knew well. She reached out gently to place her hand against his temple before she paused, her fingers hovering just above his skin. Close enough for her cool fingers to feel his radiating body heat. This could go very badly she told herself, still she was willing to go through that if there was the possibility that she could ease what he was going through.

She looked around once more before concentrating on the tortured man before her. She didn't know him, but he was hurting. He was like the other Clones, and she'd do this for them too if they needed it. Slowly Ahsoka lowered her hand to his head, he felt so hot to the touch and his skin was slick with sweat. Her heart thudded in her chest, her movements pausing as she looked around in a paranoid manner. It's not like it was _wrong_ that she was in here, still she didn't want anyone to wake up and think she was attacking him. She very slowly drew her fingers along his skin and through his hair in a comforting way. She felt him begin to relax and she smiled widely. Yes! She was helping just the way she wanted to!

Jester blinked awake. For a terrifying moment he was sure that one of his brothers was about to shave off his sideburns or wreck his hair, then after another moment he realized that it wasn't one of them. He rolled quickly and grabbed the hand that was on him, surely there for a dangerous reason. His hand gripped the slender arm, and he was taken aback by how the assailant didn't make a single sound. He peered up into the darkness and saw large eyes. That... that wasn't normal. He squeezed the wrist in his hand, feeling the muscles within shift. It wasn't the possible ghost either. He narrowed his eyes a bit and his face filled with horror. Ohh oh no no no! This-this was FAR worse than having to talk to Rex and Cody! "Commander?"

"I didn't mean to wake you." Ahsoka whispered. She held off the wince at the look she got. Oh that, didn't sound right at _ALL_ did it? "I wanted to help you." Nope... too late to make any of this sound normal or okay.

Jester let his grip on her arm loosen before he took his hand away entirely. This was _sooo_ much _worse _than the nightmare he'd been having! He didn't understand how or why this was happening, or what he'd done to deserve it! He felt her take his hand and gently tug at him to get up letting himself be lead off the bed and towards the rooms door. Oh he was going to be taken out back and shot! Or... _OR_ maybe this was _another_ type of dream? Nooo... right? He had always heard that if a pretty lady went to steal you away in the night you should go. Not that the Commander was a 'lady' but- well she _was_ but she was a kid. Nearly an adult... he was over thinking this.

Ahsoka was getting WEIRD feelings from Jester as she lead him out into the hallway. Guess he wasn't terrified of his nightmare anymore. She exhaled once they were out in the safety of the hall and she let him go. "I'm sorry." She told him. "I-I felt that you were afraid and I wanted to fix it." At least if she did this again she could try a different approach. Also it was on someone she'd not really see again after all this, probably, so it wasn't like she'd done it to one of _'her' _boys.

Jester blinked at her and then shifted. "Ah.." Oh no this wasn't going to be the good dream he hoped for! This was indeed the nightmare he was afraid it was!

Ahsoka realized she was scaring him to death. "I'm so sorry Jester." She said, now in the good light she could easily tell which one he was. "I hope you sleep well the rest of the night."

"Yes ma'am." he said as he went to flee back into the room.

Ahsoka sighed and slumped. Well _that_ couldn't have gone much worse. Yeah she'd... have to re-think doing that if the situation arose again.

"Commander?"

She jerked violently and whirred around nearly stumbling on her own feet. She laughed a little loudly before she shut up, remembering where she was. "Rex. What are you doing awake?"

"I'm just getting up Commander." He told her. "Why are _you_ awake?"

"Because there's no sleep for the wicked?"

He chuckled at that and moved away from the door a bit, pleased that she followed him. "Well if the wicked aren't sleeping maybe you'd like to have that meal together?" He asked as he peered at the door number. Hm.. why was she here of all places?

Ahsoka lit up at that. "I'd like that." She went to walk with him, her body was telling her to go to bed but right now her mind was mostly wide awake and chipper. "How'd your work go?" She asked. "The stuff you had to do when we met earlier?"

"Well?" He told her, unsure of what she wanted him to say. "Just the normal busy work that fills my life due to being Captain." He said.

She yawned loudly into the back of her hand. "Why is it that I always seem to be yawning around you?"

"Because I'm just _that_ exciting?" He teased.

She giggled at that. "I guess you are. I'm glad your work went well though."

"How did your studying go?"

"My studying?" She asked.

"I went in to eat after we had talked together once my work was done. I saw you sitting at the table in the corner doing some sort of work. Didn't want to bother you since you didn't look like you'd welcome a distraction."

"Oh! I was just going through some files. Doing some research."

"Research?" He asked. "Anything interesting?"

"I was checking into the information on the team that's here. Got lost in watching the files to their Questionings on Kamino." She heard him slow to a stop, which caused her to look back. "Rex?"

"Why would you be looking at those files Commander?" He asked.

"I... wanted to see how they answered. Get an idea of who they were? When I do finally go out on my patrol it will be with some of them. I'd like to have some idea as to who they are." She could feel him really looking at her and she shifted. "Did... I do something wrong?"

"No Commander just... didn't think you'd want to watch those." he said as he went to walk with her again. Not wanting to have this conversation in the far too open hallway.

"Why?"

"The Questionings on Kamino are unpleasant usually. Not something that you really need to bother yourself with."

"You haven't had to have one have you?"

"No." He responded easily.

"So, are they all like that? Unpleasant I mean? You haven't had one and you sound like it's a pretty bad thing."

"Do you look forward to being interrogated by the Jedi Council when you've done something wrong?"

"Fair enough." She said as she moved along easily with him. "Why are droid fingers 'Forbidden Objects'?"

Rex frowned at that. "They just are Commander." He really didn't want to get into the rules of it.

"Okay." She held off a wince of her own at that. That was so very much the tone Anakin used with her when he wanted a conversation to end.

He didn't like the silence he had caused. "If you really want to know ask Echo, he really enjoys regaling people with all that information." He was relieved to see her smile. It was something he was glad he could do.

"Alright, thanks. I'll look into that."

"So what's all this about ghosts?" He asked as he walked into the Cafeteria.

Ahsoka laughed more freely now that they were in a contained area where she wouldn't disturb anyone. "Oh nothing. I saw something and a few clones brought up the 'fact' that this place was haunted."

"Well if haunted means stuffed with rats then yes."

Ahsoka's skin crawled. "Rats? Really?"

"Space rats?" He offered. "Whatever they actually are they're big things." He said. "Last group that left said that they'd use them for shooting practice. They came in with a shipment and they apparently exploded population wise." He headed over to get himself some food. "They told me if I saw any to shoot them, to help keep their numbers in check."

Ahsoka stuck her tongue out at the idea. Bleh. "I'd take ghosts over rats, or rat like things."

"You haven't liked rats since the incident in the sewers." He said as he gathered a bit of food and then some Caff.

"Might I remind you that I wasn't the one that screamed first." She said. "Nor was I the one _shrieking _about a rat getting into my helmet."

"Clones don't shriek Commander. We exclaim."

"Oh is that what it was?" She asked with a little grin as she went to have herself some tea before loading it up with sugar and honey. "Well your 'exclamation' _REALLY_ sounded like a shriek."

"What Jesse did, _that_ was a shriek." Rex said.

Ahsoka laughed at that. "Poor Jesse. He didn't deserve that. I still don't know why they rushed him."

"Kix said that his fever made him hotter than the rest of us so that's probably why they swarmed him like that."

Ahsoka laughed more as she followed Rex to a table and sat down across from him. "I'm sure I'm not the only one disliking rats after that whole experience." She said before she sipped her tea.

"I'd rather not be in the sewers again." He said as he went to take off his helmet and placed it on the table next to him. "I swear some days when I'm sweating I can still smell sewer on me."

She looked at his helmet a bit, her eyes traveling over the _Jaig_ eyes before she put her attention back on Rex. "Don't worry you smell fine." She told him before she sipped more of her tea her eyes looking over it's darkness briefly. Ooh, she was going to have to have a _lot_ more tea.

He quirked a brow at that, unsure if she had really noticed what she had said. "Thank you Commander... you smell nice too."

She looked at him and offered a nice smile. "Well that's nice to know. You guys can smell pretty bad, hate to think I could keep up with you."

He laughed at that as he let himself relax.

Ahsoka relaxed as well, finding that the fabric of his gloves had a very interesting looking texture.

Rex shook his head and chuckled to himself as he ate. He could tell she was tired, people could get into the oddest states and staring at objects like hands tended to be somewhere at the halfway point of passing out, if not beyond it. It felt good though to know that she was staying awake for him, from projections the storm wasn't going to be stopping any time too soon so her sleeping in wouldn't or shouldn't cause any problems. If it were to he'd protect her like he always had. "Having fun?" He asked as he wiggled the fingers of his left hand at her.

She jerked at the movement and shook her head in an attempt to wake herself. "Yes I am." She said, her smile being a bit uncontrolled. "You having fun?"

"Yes I am." He told her as he looked her over. She had really grown in the years since he'd met her. He also wondered how much he had changed. Not that it was _difficult _at all to see what he looked like a few years ago, or at any age but still, it was something he didn't tend to ever think about. He had the body of an adult, he wouldn't be growing or changing drastically unless something happened to him. Ahsoka on the other hand was maturing before his eyes thanks to her being at the latter end of her growing years.

Rex still wasn't sure how he felt about one thing though. Something that had bothered him the day he had heard it all the way to now. He knew she wasn't much of a kid anymore even if he still called her that, but when they met she had been one. No battle experience, or none that he counted, and yet there she was with the rest of them. His worries had ended up unfounded and from what he knew the Jedi were good at keeping their Padawans alive, or in this case it seemed Ahsoka was good at keeping herself alive. The General was great, he won battles, cared about his men and his Padawan. Everything was good about him. Still he wouldn't trust the man to watch over a self sufficient cat.

"Do you drink Rex?"

Well that was an odd question. "Assuming you're talking about alcohol, no I really don't drink?" He began. "Not really supposed to..."

"I know a lot of you guys do things that you're not supposed to." She said with a pleased look.

He was sure that her words weren't supposed to sound as sinister as they did and that her look wasn't supposed to go with that tone. He'd have to ask her about that later though since he was sure he'd get a _very _odd answer if he asked her right now. Ah well it was just them. "Like?"

"Poker? Fighting?" She thought. "Ah... drinking?"

"I think we already established drinking." he said. "And how do you know about the Poker?" Since he was sure she'd have heard about the fights. Which technically weren't breaking the rules.

"I played a few hands one night in the hanger with the guys." She told him. "It was fun."

"It can be... the hanger you say?" Hm, who would that have been?

"Hey hey! No... no analyzing me."

He laughed at that. "I'm not analyzing _you_ Commander. I'm analyzing your words."

"None of it." She told him before she downed the rest of her tea. Ugh tea wasn't helping her at all. She supposed the planetary lag was catching up with her, along with all the watching and reading and staying up late she'd done today. Her big plan of 'staying awake until proper sleep time and sleeping' had busted when she'd forgotten about it and kicked it aside for research. Everything was clearly catching up with her in a hard way now that she was sitting and was ever so relaxed. "If I end up going out on Patrol, will you be there?"

He considered that. "I can be if you want." He told her. "You mentioned you'd be going with some of Braga's team right?"

She nodded. "Braga isn't here though, and I've had some of the others warn me about keeping my eyes open and staying away from the team."

"That's why you were looking into their information." he said as he rekindled the earlier conversation, this time feeling more secure in bringing up and talking about it.

Ahsoka nodded at that. "The recordings were sad." She told him. "I also didn't know until today that Slick had hurt you." She frowned at him before looking away, her voice lowering. "I wasn't there to help you... I wasn't on Umbara either."

"Even if I could have had the help, Cody and I got Slick, and I'm fine. I'm also very glad you weren't on Umbara." He looked back at her when she looked at him. "The idea of what Krell might have tried to do to you makes me feel tense. You wouldn't have stood for what he did. Even _if_ you had trusted him like Dogma he would have used you. If you had not trusted him he might have tried to kill you. I'd rather have not had you then to have you here right now, instead of the other way around."

Ahsoka nodded at that and offered a tired smile. "Okay." She gnawed on her bottom lip a bit and blinked a few times. "I would like you to be there when I go on my patrol."

He nodded at her. "I'm sure the General would be fine with that." He was sure that if she hadn't asked, the General would have as soon as the situation came up again. He sipped his Caff and and ate more of his food before looked up at her again. "Commander?" A smile touched his face when he saw that she was asleep, her head propped up by her right hand. He continued to eat, knowing that she'd dislike him rushing when she was already asleep and resting.

Once he was done eating he donned his helmet and then put their trays away before moving over to pick Ahsoka up. She woke up enough to shift in his hold and situate into a more comfy position before she settled again. Rex smiled at that as he headed out of the cafeteria. Not that he would have had trouble but he was thankful that she was so much lighter than one of his brothers. Moving the Commander to her room when asleep was sweet, doing it for one of the others was normally obnoxious. They didn't tend to fall asleep anywhere and kept to a strict schedule so finding someone who had broken their routine willingly was only ever trouble.

He frowned a bit once he got to the barracks, realizing he didn't know where she went. He was sure she wouldn't be sharing a room with the General. He also didn't want to open up a bunch of doors and find rooms that were bed and blanket less due to disuse while having to carry her everywhere. He did know one bed that wasn't in use and had sheets and a pillow. He looked at all the doors as he did a slow circle. Damn it. He'd ask the General if he knew he wasn't sleeping himself. He mentally shrugged and headed for the room he was sharing with the others. Not like she hadn't slept in close proximity to them all before. He'd just have to wake up any of the guys that slept naked. He was _NOT_ going to let them traumatize her or themselves with that.

The others were sound asleep and weren't disturbed when he walked in. He'd have to get himself onto a different schedule later once he had done what he'd woken up to do so he didn't get completely off of everyone elses. He went to shift her into a single arm hold while pulling the sheet back on his bed. He then laid her down, having to crouch so he could do his best to not disturb her. He took off her lightsabers, sure that it wasn't something that she should wear while sleeping. Moving them aside but still well within reach of her if she needed them.

Rex heard her mumble something before she was reclaimed by solid sleep. He pulled up the sheet and then stepped away. He gave her one last look before he began the unwelcome task of checking all of his brothers for shorts or pants. He couldn't just check the ones he knew slept naked, because then he'd miss the one that decided _tonight _would be the best night to sleep without anything.

Hardcase startled as he felt the heavy fabric thrown into his face.

"Put on your damn pants. The Commander is sleeping in here." Rex ordered softly at the dazed male.

What? What was happening? Why-huh? Still Hardcase got up and pulled on his pants before flopping back onto the bed.

Rex groaned and moved to get his brother back onto his bed fully, not caring if he was covered now that he had his pants on. He was thankful there was only one. With that he left to do his first patrol of the day.


	5. Chapter 5 Hidden Meanings

**Physis**

By: Elisa Ardell

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

Hidden Meanings

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><p>Mornings normally felt the same, this one though was somehow different than others somehow. Even with her eyes still closed and in the throws of waking the differences were still able to be picked up on. Still it wasn't quite clear <em>how <em>this morning was different. Ahsoka blinked sleepily and closed her eyes again, her arms moving around and hugging the pillow to herself. Mmmm...

"Rex?" Ahsoka mumbled to herself before her eyes snapped open. Why did everything smell like Rex? She peered at the wall and frowned before she sat up and looked around her fully. This wasn't her bed, this wasn't even her room. As she looked around she caught sight of all the well made beds. She breathed a small sigh of relief, thankful that nobody was here and that nobody had heard her say the Captains name.

Ahsoka got up and went about making the bed, a little smile on her face as she thought over what had happened last night, and how that must have lead her here. Once the bed was made she picked up her lightsabers and clipped them back onto her person before she went to leave the room and step out into the hall. She looked around the empty area and strained to listen for anyone. Her listening offered nothing but silence. With that Ahsoka headed for the room she was sharing with her Master, knowing she had to change into new clothes for the day. As she walked she kept an eye out for any of the 501st or her Master.

She was thankful that the walk to her room here had been as uneventful as her walk to her room on the _Resolute_. Once she arrived she looked around once more before going to open the door. She smiled at the sight that lay before her as she moved inside, happy that her Master wasn't in there. She quickly went about gathering her clothes before moving off into the bathroom to change. Ahsoka was sure that her Master probably was wondering where she'd been, or what had made her stay up so late and wake up so early that he hadn't had a chance to see her. She'd have to think of a good answer between now and when she saw him. Not that there was anything _wrong_ with where she'd woken up, but still... no need to get people in trouble for kindness.

Once she was dressed and had inspected herself in the mirror she left the room and head for the Cafeteria.

* * *

><p>Anakin stepped aside a bit when the Cafeteria door opened before he got to it. "Ahsoka." He began as the now open doors reviled his Padawan. "Where have you been?" Not that he didn't believe his Padawan could come and go in the time he was sleeping, still he worried.<p>

"Ah, I've been around Master." She smiled innocently up at him.

He gave her a searching look before sighing and shaking his head. "Alright. But don't disappear again okay?"

"Were you looking for me?" She asked.

"Yes I was. Though we can talk in a bit if you want. I don't want to make you hold off on eating." Anakin told her.

"No, I can wait to eat Master. What did you want to talk about?" Ahsoka asked as she went to move along with Anakin as he began to walk away from the Cafeteria.

"I hear from Rex that you asked him to join your group when you go out on Patrol?" Anakin asked.

"I thought it would be a good idea to have him if the unthinkable happened." Ahsoka answered as she watched her Master a bit.

"So you believe something might happen?" He asked as he gave her a look.

"No." She told him as she tilted her head slightly in thought. "But you always tell me to be careful, and the best way to do that is to be prepared."

He watched her a bit longer and then nodded. "Alright, it sounds like a good idea. I have to ask though Ahsoka, why did you offer to go with them? I easily could have and still can."

She sighed and stopped with Anakin as he turned to her fully. "I was trying to talk about us walking into droids. I can see that you mean Braga's team." She huffed at him a little. "I can do this Master, you don't have to worry about me, which I know you do _every time _I'm out with another team. I'll also have Rex with me, _and_ Braga hasn't filed a single bad report about _any_ of them. Also if I _don't_ do it, I'll have come here for _nothing_, seeing as you'll be doing _everything_. If that happens then I might as well have just stayed on Coruscant studying in the library."

Anakin smiled at that and patted her shoulder. "Alright Ahsoka. I know you know this but remember to be mindful of your surroundings."

"Your teachings have never failed me Master." She told him honestly.

"I'm glad they haven't. Though you have reminded me of something I wanted to talk to you about."

Ahsoka didn't like how his tone shifted, and how he also went to lean up against the wall with his arms crossed. That was never a good sign. "Yes Master?"

"I'm sure that if I _had_ left you on Coruscant that you'd actually have gotten some studying done. I was looking over what you had accessed yesterday and _none_ of that was studying."

Ahsoka frowned. "Looking up information and reading _IS_ studying. Just a bit different information wise than my Padawan lessons. I thought you'd be happy that I was taking the initiative to look up the team I'd be with. I'm sure you did it too, and do it every time I'm with another group."

Anakin sighed. "Ahsoka, this isn't about me and what I may or may not do. This is about _you_. Also the information you accessed was more than just their easy to access write ups. You should have asked me first before you accessed any of those other files."

"Why?" She asked. "I can access them with my clearance, why do I need permission from you?"

Anakin straightened his expression hardening. "You don't need to see those files, and as of today your clearance will be denied if you try to access them again."

She stared at him. "What? I was- Master!"

"There's no room for negotiation with this, so there's no point in arguing. I am your Master and I will tell you what you can and cannot do and you _will_ listen."

"No." She told him flatly, her own anger rising at how unfair this was. "I didn't do _anything _wrong! You're being unfair about this."

"I didn't say you did, and you're free to feel however you want to about my decision. What I _am_ saying is that those files are _not_ for you and that you will be unable to access them."

"You're treating me like a child!"

"You _are_ a child."

A tense silence passed between them. Ahsoka tried to figure out why her Master was doing this, but right now she was too upset to be able to think clearly. Finally she looked away from the stare she had with him, submitting to his decision.

"Go eat, you'll be heading out with the others for your northern pass patrol in a couple of hours. Since we talked I can head out soon to go look for what Rex and I found yesterday." Anakin watched his unhappy Padawan. This was for the best and he knew it.

"Yes Master." She said as she then went to turn away and walk off back towards the Cafeteria.

He watched her go before sighing and running a hand through his hair. He knew inside she'd find out eventually, that he should probably tell her what he was trying to keep from her. Right now though he didn't want to have that conversation. He'd wait until there was some down time on the _Resolute _before he spoke with her. Sure that she'd need time to collect herself once she knew.

* * *

><p>It was another day of eating alone. He was fine with that too. If the jerks didn't want to interact with him then he wasn't going to force them. In fact he was finally getting what he'd wanted, people leaving him the hell alone. Chopper slumped and poked at his food. If this was what he really wanted then why did he feel so damn miserable? He looked up to where the others were eating together. Why should he be the one to show them good faith first? There were four of them and he was one man. They should be the ones to approach him! Chopper growled to himself and looked back at his food before he went about eating unhappily. Stupid everything. Training never told you about this.<p>

Chopper looked up when he heard the door open, spotting the little Jedi before he frowned and put his attention back onto his food. He'd of course worked with the Jedi before, thought not all of them had, had a little one. Most of the Jedi's he'd worked with had also been males, and the times it had been females he had been able to keep his helmet on.

He didn't hate people and he didn't hate women or anything, what he did hate was the way they'd look at him. They were clearly judging him just like the others in his Squad did. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes briefly. He knew Braga kept saying that nobody was doing that but damn it the man couldn't speak for everyone. He was thankful for Braga though, the man was older and was kind. Something about him was very different from how Slick had been. The way he spoke was official but it had something else in it when it was just all of them together. Something that made things actually feel safe and okay. Something Chopper couldn't identify. Still as soon as Braga wasn't there the security the other provided was gone and all the ill thoughts came right back. Even with the breathing exercises that he'd been told about the thoughts still made him angry. He blew out a tense breath, completely unhappy with everything.

Chopper peeked a glance at the little Jedi and frowned to himself. Two days she'd been here and he'd seen her off an on. That was still plenty of time to take notice on how the girl usually was. See that she was always happy and talked a lot with anyone who would listen. Today though something was clearly different. Today she looked like him. Quiet and serious looking as she got her food. He found himself more than a little curious as to why that was. Not that he'd _ever _go over and actually ask what was up, still speculation was fun and it distracted him from other things.

Ahsoka got her food and went to find a table that she could sit alone at. Once she found one and moved over to sit but looked around the area before she did so. She could either be miserable all day or accept what Anakin had told her and even if it didn't make her happy, make the best of the morning she now had. Ahsoka knew she'd talk to her Master about this further, once she was more clear headed, try to get some of those answers she knew he had out of him. During her look around the cafeteria she spotted someone else sitting alone and a little hopeful smile crossed her face. They always said that misery loves company, right?

Chopper got back to his eating, getting lost in it and his thoughts when a shadow fell over him. "Eh?" he asked in displeasure as he looked up. Sure it was one of his brothers, hoping it was one from his squad.

Ahsoka watched the scarred male's unhappy expression change to that of what could be pegged as silent horror. She smiled a little at him. "Mind if I sit with you?"

_**WHY**_? "Ah- of course Commander." Chopper said as he looked at his food. He was going to screw this up, he was going to get sent back to Kamino and he'd never be able to leave. The last thing he'd see would be the ones who had created him, looking at him with those huge eyes and expressionless faces. His stomach rolled as he tensed more. If he could, he'd shoot himself before being sent back there. It went against all his programming but that would be better than what he _knew _would happen if he got sent back.

"Chopper?" Ahsoka asked with concern as she sat. When he didn't respond she put down her tray and reached out to touch his armoured shoulder. "Chopper?" She asked again, this time with a bit more force to her voice.

Chopper jerked sharply at the touch and looked up at the Commander before looking back down at his food. "I'm fine Commander."

She didn't believe him, but she did draw her hand back to herself. "Chopper, I just wanted to come over and talk. I saw that you were eating alone. Thought you wouldn't mind the company."

He did mind. "You are free to do as you wish Commander."

She held off a sigh. She was scaring him, just like she had Jester but for a different reason entirely. She'd reach out and touch his hand, but with how he'd reacted to her touching his shoulder, and with how tense he felt she didn't want to invite problems.. "We can go back and forth." She told him. "I can ask you something and you can ask me one back?"

Chopper felt his brows draw together at that. Why would she offer that? She wasn't supposed to do that. She was a Commander. She wasn't even supposed to talk to him unless she had the duty to right? Then again all the people he'd seen her talking with had been Clones, but they had all been apart of the 501st. He'd just assumed that she knew them all very well. What if she didn't? What if she just liked to talk to them?

Ahsoka noticed the pair of mismatched eyes looking at her briefly and she offered a bit of a warmer smile to him.

"You do not have to do that Commander." Chopper told her as he averted his gaze.

"I know."

That made him look at her even if he didn't want to. His face a mixture of a scowl and surprise. His eyes were clearly examining her, trying to read what she was hiding. When he found nothing he went back to his food. "Alright." She was going to ask about his scars.

Ahsoka smiled at that and sipped her tea. "How are you today?"

Or she was going to work up to it. "I'm decent."

"Decent is good." She told him. "There's worse ways to feel."

He grunted in agreement. "How do you today?" He asked, sure that she'd laugh and give him some half answer that he didn't actually want to hear.

"I'm... upset?" She began after a moment of thought. "Today's not going well and I want to fix an aspect of it but I know I can't."

That was more than he'd been expecting. "Oh?" What problems could a Jedi have?

She smiled at that, too happy with the interaction to call him on the fact that he was getting a freebee question. "Ah... just having to re-learn that it sometimes really stings to be below someone, and having to do something that you don't want to."

Must be her Master, who else could tell a Jedi, even a little one what to do? Chopper nodded at that slowly as he ate. He was still sure that he was being singled out for a reason. Maybe Braga had said something, or maybe the Jedi had decided that he was as deficient as his team believed he was. Still, the Commander felt okay, not like she was hiding something. From what he'd seen of her the past couple days it was pretty clear that she was open. Even if he was a touch paranoid, it was a stretch even for him to say that she'd been acting this whole time just to trick him.

* * *

><p>Jester looked over from where he sat with the others with a furrowed brow. Why was the Commander over with Chopper? That couldn't be good. Then again she'd come into their room and had pulled him out into the hall. Still... that couldn't be a good sign.<p>

Sketch and Punch also looked over to where Jester was looking and both frowned a bit. Well that was a surprising sight.

Finally Gus looked over seeing as everyone else was, a dark look crossing his features before he turned back to his food.

"Should we do something?" Jester asked quietly.

"Like what?" Sketch asked. "If the Commander is talking to him it's already too late."

Jester chewed the inside of his lip at that and nodded a bit.

Punch frowned at the look Gus had but didn't say anything to the man. Ever since Slick had been taken away Gus had been their 'lead' in a way, or at least second to Braga. Still he was a lead that didn't welcome Chopper. Not that he could argue, something was wrong with their brother, nobody should do what he'd been doing. They were a group though, a squad. They were still together, and it didn't feel completely right shutting out Chopper. Still he couldn't bring himself to question Gus openly. At least not yet.

Sketch looked at Punch and matched the frown as he went back to quietly eating. Whatever happens happens. If it somehow does all work out, he'd take the initiative to try to talk to Chopper.

Jester watched the others a bit longer, feeling as lost now as he had when Cody and Rex had asked him questions. He exhaled slowly and went back to his food.

* * *

><p>"Why don't you eat with your team Chopper?" Ahsoka asked gently.<p>

So it begins. "Because I don't." He said a little flippantly before he winced internally. "I'm not welcome with them."

"How come?" Ahsoka asked once she'd let Chopper eat some more of his food. Allowing her to eat some of her own. "And remember, you can ask me questions whenever."

Yeah... not that he had the guts to ask her much besides flipping her own questions back on her. He wasn't even sure it was appropriate to ask the Commander things that didn't have to do with a mission. Idle chitchat was not something he'd been trained for, and he'd never been as good at it as his brothers had been. "Because we don't get along." He told her, not wanting to say too much. Though he was sure he knew what her next question would be and went about answering it before she could ask. "They believe I'm deficient."

"Because of the droid fingers?" She asked carefully.

Of course she knew about the droid fingers. He was an idiot for thinking otherwise.

Ahsoka watched the small nod and the mumbled yes, allowing them to fall into silence as they both ate. She looked over at the men sitting at the table across the room and held off a low sound. Even if she couldn't understand everything properly she _could_ understand being mad at their brother doing something wrong. It was something she didn't didn't quite grasp the nuances of though. She did know that it wasn't something to ask Chopper about or to give hints about being okay. She had to talk to Echo still. She perked up when she heard Chopper ask something and she blinked at him. "I'm sorry I didn't quite catch that."

"Why don't you eat with General Skywalker?" Since that was the closest 'team' he could think of for her.

She sighed at that, clearly unhappy with the man he had mentioned. Which also proved to him that he was right with his earlier thoughts. That he'd done something to make her unhappy. "Well... he's not here right now. Though to be fair I don't normally sit and eat with him. I like sitting and eating with the 501st, and when the opportunity arises I like to sit and eat with the Troopers that I'll be working with." She smiled to herself a bit. "I know it's seen as 'irregular' but I want to know more about you, individually."

He considered that. She was a strange one.

She went to put another forkful of food into her mouth when the next question was asked.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen." She answered easily. She waited to see if another question would be hurled her way. When one didn't come she went back to her happy eating.

Chopper observed the girl as she ate and then watched as she looked towards the cafeteria door when it opened. He was taken aback by the smile that spread across her face. Even with how unhappy she so clearly was she was still able to smile broadly for the man who had come in. He wondered if anyone would ever smile like that for him. "You can go eat with the Captain." He told her.

Ahsoka blinked at that. "Are you sure? I don't want it to seem like I'm leaving you for him."

So very strange. "I'm sure." He told her. Making a motion with his hand to shoo her off.

Ahsoka grinned at that. "Thank you Chopper. I'll see you later." She then went to get up with her tray and tea and head over towards Rex who hadn't even gotten all of his food yet.

Chopper watched and went back to his eating. Even if it had scared him, that whole interaction hadn't actually gone that bad. If not sitting with his team would end with her sitting with him instead, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all.

* * *

><p>Rex grinned when Ahsoka appeared beside him. She also looked happier than he was expecting her to after what the General had told him. "Commander."<p>

"Captain." She said with a smile at the helmeted male. "Looking forward to our outing?"

"Oh yes. Been dreaming about it since yesterday."

Ahsoka giggled at that as she went to follow him to a table and moved to take her place across from him. "I think you're picking up Anakin's sarcasm."

"I think I'm picking it up from both of you... and Cody." He smiled at her as he took off his helmet and set it beside him. "So how are you today Commander?" Now he'd really see how far his 'charm' could get him information wise.

Ahsoka's smile faded to a disappointed look. "I... just don't understand my Master sometimes." She told him as she poked at her food fussily. "You remember how I mentioned the files I was watching yesterday? Well apparently you aren't the only one who was thinking that I shouldn't really be watching them."

"General Skywalker tell you to stop?" He asked.

"It would be one thing if he did that." She said as she put down her fork. "It's another to know that he has gone to the lengths of denying my clearance. That would require calls, that would require effort on his part. He didn't even give me a chance to NOT look at them. He just flat out did what he did and I'm supposed to sit here and be happy with it. Not supposed to think that he clearly doesn't trust me." She looked away and was silent for a few moments. "When he gives me responsibilities I always take them on, and I do them well. I listen when he tells me not to do something, even when I want to demand answers from him. I-I just _don't_ understand. What has all of this been for? I've been his Padawan for years and... and today I feel like I was just matched up with him. Like he doesn't trust me."

Rex frowned at that, that was a lot. "Commander, I'm sure the General has his reasons."

"He _always_ has his reasons Rex." She told him as she looked at him. "I guess sometimes I forget my place." She looked at her food. "He's my Master, and we're not equals."

Something about those words rubbed Rex he wrong way. He could easily see how she'd feel like the General didn't trust her. He was sure the man did though. He watched Ahsoka, brow furrowing. "You are younger than he is, you are his Padawan." He told her, trying to figure out what to say now that he'd started. This was a territory that he had no real knowledge in, and trying to regurgitate information and mixing it with comforting words was proving to be formidable. "I know he cares about you Commander."

Ahsoka slumped and nodded. "I know." She looked up at Rex and offered him a warm smile. "Thank you."

He smiled back at her easily, pleased that he was able to help her out.

Ahsoka went about eating, the silence was nice and comforting. "Rex?"

"Yes Commander?"

"Thank you for last night."

He blushed a bit at that and cleared his throat. "Ah, you're welcome. Just doing what I could."

She looked up at him, her smile widening. "I know." For that she was very happy and grateful.

Rex watched her a moment longer before he went back to his own food. Yes, today was a good day. Or at the very least it was starting out as a good one.

* * *

><p>Ahsoka stood outside in her winter gear as she looked towards the way they'd soon be headed. The Outpost was situated atop a cliff, like many of them seemed to be. Making the only way to really get to it was to land at the docking areas which had to be cleared of ice regularly. The only other way to get to the outpost was through the mountain paths which were full of hazards. Still they'd gotten enough worrying information to make checking them out seem warranted. Her Master was busy checking the ice plains with the Clones he'd taken, having taken a ship with him to get them farther away. Hopefully his search would lead him to find what he and Rex had been tracking, and her own search would lead them to finding that the mountain paths were clear of any enemies.<p>

She looked back at the large group she now had to work with and nodded at them as Rex placed himself at her side. She looked up to the helmeted male, smiling at his and all of their winter gear. It looked nice and she was sure it was toasty in there. Once everyone was in their position she began to walk, heading towards the large metal doors that separated the outpost from the mountain path. She looked up at the Towers that were located on either side, wondering how it was to work up there.

"Come on!" Rex shouted at the group of nine before he went about closely following the Commander.

Jesse looked at the men ahead of Hardcase and himself. In the front were the Commander and Rex, behind them, Dogma and Tup, Braga's group, and then he and Hardcase were in the rear. He had noticed from the Commanders look that this was a larger group than she'd have first anticipated herself having. Still if droids were around having all of them could prove to be a very good thing. He looked over at Hardcase, even without seeing the others expression he could tell he was frowning. "Don't worry. If there's nothing good to shoot at then I'm sure the Commander will let you shoot at rocks."

Hardcase huffed at that and walked in step with the others. He hoped so.

* * *

><p>The walk was long and demanding, more than a few of Braga's team wondering how the little Commander was still moving so well even when the depth of the snow was so high in comparison to her. Thankfully for them it was only mid shin deep and not all the way up to their knees.<p>

Ahsoka stumbled, being caught easily by Rex. "Careful Commander." He told her.

She nodded at that and straightened before she looked ahead at the long and dreary path. Ugh. She then looked back at the men she had with her. "Hardcase, go with Jester and Gus to scout ahead. Gus will be taking lead of you three." She announced at the men. "Dogma, you take Hardcase's spot with Jesse."

"WOO!" Hardcase announced happily as he went about weaving through the others. He'd be the first to get action this way!

Jesse smiled and shook his head at how excited Hardcase was as he saw him practically barrel over Dogma who went to whack the other on the back of the head. Not that Hardcase seemed to care at all.

Punch looked at Gus and Jester as they left. Not that he couldn't see clearly _why_ the commander chose Gus to be the scout party's leader, but why not choose one of the other capable ones of the group she knew?

Ahsoka moved aside and let the three move on ahead, smiling as Hardcase thanked her and went bounding off. She's sure that if Jester and Gus were more comfortable with her that they'd tell her just how displeased they were with her for sending Hardcase with them. Instead they both went jogging after their third member.

"Is this a good idea Commander?" Rex asked as he watched the others go on ahead.

Ahsoka nodded. "Both Jester and Gus are trained in recon."

"And Hardcase?"

She shrugged as she went about walking along through the now nicely trampled snow. "It makes him happy. You and I both know that when he _needs _to listen, he will."

Rex sighed and nodded at that. "Yes, of course."

She continued along, keeping an eye out for anything being wrong as the three men slowly headed out of sight.

* * *

><p>It was nearly two hours later and almost three quarters finished the main mountain path when Rex got the call from the General.<p>

Ahsoka stopped walking when Rex did and looked back at the others. She rubbed her arms absently. "So how warm is it inside of those?" She finally decided to ask.

Tup jerked at the sudden question before he looked down at her a bit. "They're warm." He told her. "Are you feeling the cold Commander?"

"Ah..." She frowned and looked at where her hands were. "Actually no." She blew out another breath seeing how much thinner it was than earlier. "Hey! It's getting warmer." She grinned before she heard a rumble in the distance, the sound making her look up at the sky. Dark clouds were starting to roll in, their thickness quickly stealing away any sunlight that there had been. "Oh boy, that doesn't look good."

"Hopefully we can get back a ways before it starts up. General Skywalker has called us back to the Outpost."

"Did he find what he wanted to find?"

"Yes." Rex began as he looked ahead, waiting to see the three other troopers he'd called back in before they began their walk back.

"Did he get whatever it was?"

"I don't believe so Sir." Rex began. "He said that General Unduli would be handling it with Commander Gree." Rex saw Ahsoka open her mouth to ask more questions and he raised a hand. "I'm sorry Commander, I was told nothing other than that."

Ahsoka turned away with drawn brows. "Alright."

Rex held off a sigh. Oh this was going to be a pleasant walk back. He continued to watch the path up ahead as the rumbling of thunder shook the ground they were on. "Head back with the Commander. I'm going to wait for the others."

"Captain, I can stay instead." Tup offered.

"I'm going to stay. Now all of you, go." Rex ordered.

Again Ahsoka was going to say something but she got silenced by the look she _knew _Rex was giving her. "I'll meet you back at the outpost."

Ahsoka let Rex give her a gentle shove before she did indeed begin walking with the others.

Jesse noticed the nod that Rex gave him before he turned to the others. "Commander, why don't you take the front with Tup and Dogma." He said as he also ordered the other Clone up front with her.

Ahsoka looked back at Rex, not liking having to leave him right there. She did smile though when he waved at her. She waved right back and then began to walk with the Clones.

Rex watched them walk out of sight, before his sight was drawn upwards to the angry sky. Blast it this wasn't going to be good.

* * *

><p>Hardcase continued to run along with Gus and Jester as the wind began to pick up.<p>

"Why do you think we were ordered back?" Jester asked.

"If Rex didn't say then it's not for us to know." Hardcase said sharply.

Gus caught the look that Jester gave him and frowned beneath his helmet. "What Hardcase said."

There came a sound behind them, something akin to snapping twigs. The men stopped and looked back, seeing a wall of rain rushing at them.

"Ah come on!" Hardcase snapped as the rain reached them and surpassed them.

"Watch your footing!" Gus warned as they began to rush along anew. A mountain pass was NOT where one wanted to be when the rain began to dislodge the snow above them.

* * *

><p>Rex swore loudly as the rain ran over his booted feet and flowed around him. He opened a channel to Jesse. "Did you get past the cliff path?"<p>

"_No Captain."_

"Just find a safe place to wait this out then." Rex began, his words deeply displeased. "Once you have a place contact me and I'll meet you there with the others."

"_Uh, I can't do that Sir."_

"Excuse me?" Rex demanded. "Why _can't _you do that Trooper?"

"_Because we were already half way across the path before the blasted rain started. You were right, we are regretting not setting up the length of rope when we had the cha- Watch out! - GRAB THE COMMANDER!"_

Rex could only listen to the chaos that ensued as his heart skipped.

* * *

><p>Jesse's eyes widened as he looked up and saw a thick sheet of damp snow come rushing down at them all. "Watch out!"<p>

Ahsoka looked up at the sound that was practically hidden due to the rain and tried to use the Force to catch the falling snow. The weight of it causing her to shift her footing. She heard Jesse cry out something as she felt herself begin to fall, the snow rushing down on them all.

Dogma tried to grab onto the commander but the snow pushed him and the rest of them out of reach.

Ahsoka managed to not be completely swallowed by the snow like the others hand, still it had sent her over the edge. She fell and landed hard on an outcropping that made cracking sounds upon impact. She rolled quickly and shot out her hands, closing her eyes as she tried to concentrate. No no no! She wasn't going to loose them!

Death was held off as the men were caught and more than a few sighs of relief were heard. The snow began to fall away from them as they were very slowly lifted upwards.

Ahsoka would have laughed or at least smiled if she could have at the cheers she heard. All of them, she had all of them. They were all depending on her. Her hands trembled at the strain, her heart thudding in her chest. She closed her eyes as she felt out, mentally begging to find more strength.

"Commander! Get us up farther on the wall and see if we can find someplace secure to grab on!" Jesse shouted.

"It looks like everything is covered in ice." Sketch observed.

Chopper kept an eye on where he was guessing the Commander was, his brows furrowed. He had a terrible feeling inside.

Even though the words were pulled by the wind Ahsoka did hear them and grunted as she went to carry them upwards. Ooh, she had no idea how much of the ratio their united Force work had been Anakin's abilities until now.

Something was wrong, and the Clones could all tell that much. As they were moved towards the wall they were dismayed at just how right Sketch had been.

Punch looked at the others and closed his eyes before he looked up to where the Commander was. His hands felt over the slick rock, unable to find something to grab securely onto. He couldn't help but look down towards the darkness below them. Noo, he didn't want to die this way.

Ahsoka tried to shift to get up onto her knees, having to centre herself better. Having to move and keep her concentration was not easy. She stared as the men got to eye level with her.

Dogma eyed what the Commander was on and how it was cracking under her weight. He knew this would make it more difficult on her but he could also make everything easier if it worked. He shifted and grabbed his ascension cable and fired it before giving it a tug. He grimaced at it pulling out from it's setting along with some ice. He went to fire it again, getting the same result as the first time. His thoughts raced as he looked at the girl. He was almost close enough to reach out and touch her. "Sir." he began as he looked at her. "Drop me." Dogma ordered.

Tup stared at him and looked at where the other was looking. If she dropped two of them, surely she could save the rest and get herself to safety quicker. "Drop both of us. We'll be fine!"

Punch stared at the ones beside him and then looked down again to the dizzying darkness. They were going to fall. He felt them fall a few inches before they were securely floating again.

Ahsoka felt fright forming and coming from the men. She would be paying attention to what they were saying if she had any ability to around her focus. She squeezed her eyes shut as she continued to lift, her arms and back burning from the effort. She focused on holding them, feeling their growing fear as her abilities began to destabilize.

"Captain. You need to get to the Commander immediately. She's on a small ledge that doesn't look like it's going to hold her weight for much longer."

"_I'm on my way!"_ Rex answered.

Ahsoka felt her abilities falter again and distantly heard the cries of shock and fear that came from the men. She tried to hold onto them, but her body was becoming numb from the cold and wracked internally with pain. She was going to loose them all and it was going to be her fault. If her Master had been here they'd all be safe by now.

She had to think. What would her Master do?

She felt her hold on them slip as she tried to think, causing her to grit her teeth as she concentrated as hard as she could. The feeling of helplessness settled into her as tears formed in her rain soaked eyes. Her chest ached, not with pain but with the feeling of inevitable loss as she felt her body begin to give in one last time. She couldn't loose them all.

She wouldn't.

Deep inside there was a flash as a spark seemed to light.

Jesse tensed as the loose hold threatened to disappear completely only to find that it became secure. He and the others rose up quickly back to the path. One of the Generals must have arrived. He stepped unsteadily at first and then quickly as he moved to look down to where Ahsoka was. "Commander?" When he didn't get a response right away he went about pulling out the security line from his backpack along with the anchoring gun. He began to fire the large metal brackets into the wall around the rope. He then quickly tossed the end to the others. "HOLD IT!"

With that he moved to slide down the rope, moving quickly along the icy wall to where the Commander was. He frowned at how she looked, still he could worry about that later. He shifted the rope easily between his feet making a stable area for himself as he reached out with his left arm. "Commander, come here."

Ahsoka stared off silently before she reached out for him.

He got his arm around her and got her against himself securely. "I have her!"

He held onto Ahsoka tightly as he was pulled up.

Rex was there to take Ahsoka from Jesse, letting Hardcase help Jesse. He caught her faraway look, that wasn't good and he didn't like it. Rex move surefooted along the path as he tried to keep an eye on everything. He wished he could be at the other side already. He caught sight of activity right where he wanted to be. Who was that? Nobody was supposed to be here. He went to shift the Commander as he went for his gun. If it was Seppies they were about to be _very _sorry.

"Rex it's me!" Anakin called out from the safe place he was at.

Rex was relieved at that and continued across. Once he was on stable ground he let the General take Ahsoka from him. He noticed that General Unduli was also there. He looked at Gree as the man walked towards him.

"What happened?" Gree demanded.

"What part?"

"I mean about your Commander." Gree said dryly.

"I'm not completely sure yet. All I do know is that she saved the lives of six men." Rex told him. Now that he was safe he was able to look around the area. They'd come on speeders... had the General known his Padawan was in danger and had come for her? "What do you know?"

Gree shook his head as he went to watch the others arrive. "I was with General Unduli talking about our attack on what Skywalker found when she suddenly ran off. By the time we were outside Skywalker was already heading through the gates on a speeder. The General went to follow him and I went to follow her."

Rex looked back towards the speeders as the two Jedi left together with Ahsoka. He scowled. "I guess we walk."

"You walk." Gree told him as he mounted his speeder. "I'll keep you updated."

Rex watched the man get onto the speeder and race away as well. Right now he hated Gree, and everything not Ahsoka. He slumped and looked back at the others who had safely arrived. He wanted to order them to walk but even he just wanted to sit down in a heap with the others, even if it was raining.

"What happened? Where's the Commander?" Chopper asked.

"The Generals took her." Rex answered, feeling completely lost as to what had happened. "One of you, tell me what happened." Since they were resting he might as well know.


	6. Chapter 6 Perspectives

**Physis**

By: Elisa Ardell

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><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

Perspectives

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><p>Anakin had known that it wouldn't all be fine even once they got back to the Outpost. Still he had foolishly hoped. As he carried Ahsoka down the hall he tried to avoid the other Jedi's presence. It was a tense silence, one that he didn't want to acknowledge right now. He wished he'd never been contacted by the Chancellor and that he hadn't gotten Luminara as the Jedi that would be here to cover him. Obi-wan would have been bad enough, but she would be worse.<p>

Luminara kept in easy step with Anakin even with his longer strides. She could tell that he was trying to avoid what had happened and she wasn't going to let him. Not because she wanted to harass him about it but because she was sure that he wouldn't take this matter as seriously as he should. "Skywalker." She began in low tones.

He ignored her and entered the room he was sharing with his Padawan. He moved through it easily and laid her onto her bed. Anakin ran a hand over her forehead lightly, if only to gain a bit more time before he faced what he knew would inevitably happen once he left this room. He held off a sigh. "Rest little one." he said softly to his still stunned looking Padawan. "I will return." He straightened and looked towards the door. He didn't like how imposing Luminara was at the moment, being back lit by the halls lights as she stood in the doorway. He moved towards her, watching her move out of his way as he went to enter the hall. It was only once the door shut that she spoke.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to let her rest."

"I mean beyond that Skywalker."

Anakin gave her a look. "I will talk to her about what happened."

She looked at his frown. "You know we both felt what happened here. What your Padawan just did, the line that she crossed."

His hands tightened at that. "I said I would talk with her." He told her sternly.

Luminara regarded him with a look of her own. "Skywalker..." She began as she thought over her words. "You must contact the Council. A Padawan using the Dark Side, using their fear to do something is very serious. She is young and we all could lose her to it."

"She _is_ young. She will be fine and she will not do it again." Anakin defended. "And I will _not_ 'lose her'."

"You do not know that." she told him. "She shouldn't have done it in the first place." Luminara told coolly. "You should take her to Coruscant with you."

"She is _my_ Padawan Master. I will do what I feel is right." Anakin knew that this was serious, how did Luminara think that he didn't? He didn't want to take her to Coruscant though. He could handle this. He would talk with her and he would make it okay.

"Skywalker, I am only thinking of your Padawan."

"So am I!" He snapped at her before he looked away. "Trust me."

"I'm not sure I can." She watched him give her a heated look with narrowed eyes. "You are frustrated with me, for showing concern?" She thought back to the last time they'd really interacted together. "You don't want to take her to Coruscant for fear that they'll take her away."

Anakin didn't like that thought at all, Ahsoka was _his_.

"Your inability to not let go is showing..." She began gently.

"I _care_ for my Padawan. I know how you feel about yours Luminara."

"I do care for my Padawan. I can let go though. She will not always be my Padawan, and if the unthinkable happens she will remain close to me. I would not stray from my path for her though. If I did I'd be disrespecting the very thing she and I stand for." When he said nothing, she continued to speak. "Skywalker. You must do what is best for your Padawan."

"Do not tell me what is best. I _know_ what is best for her!" He eyed the green skin woman. "I WILL tell the Jedi Council." Eventually. "I just want to talk to her first and figure out what happened."

"You want to rationalize it."

"Master Unduli-"

"You are getting angry at me. Not just frustrated. Perhaps Skywalker you will want to look to yourself for what has gone wrong today and not just your Padawan. Our Padawans learn from us. We are their models, their compass."

Anakin didn't want to listen to her; he didn't want her to be right. Emotions weren't a bad thing. They made him stronger, made him special. The Chancellor had told him that and he trusted him completely. He didn't believe he'd changed since he'd become a Jedi. If he was so horrible as he was he'd never have gotten this far, never would have gotten a Padawan. He was a fine 'compass', he lead Ahsoka well and she had grown immensely in the time he'd had her. She would continue to grow by his side and that was _that_!

"I will deal with my Padawan." Anakin said clearly to her as he straightened his posture. "I will do things in my own way. I would not interfere with how you would deal with Barriss if something were to happen. Show me the same respect."

Luminara held off a sigh. He was so difficult. She would just have to do what she could. "Of course."

Anakin watched her turn away from him and begin to walk off before she looked back with a serious look.

"Be careful Skywalker... loosing one to death is better than loosing someone to the Dark Side."

Anakin tensed at that and held his place as he watched her continue down the hall. He caught sight of Gree who had a worried looking Barriss standing at his side. This was horrible. He then looked back at the door and walked in, letting it close behind him as he stayed near it.

Ahsoka looked up and over at her Master before bowing her head. She'd sat up moments after he'd left, not liking the feeling of laying down. Somehow it made her feel exposed and uncomfortable.

"Tell me what happened." Anakin began.

Ahsoka was quiet for a few minutes before she began to talk. "We were heading back..."

He listened to her as she continued to speak. There was no missing the stress that began to build up in her voice. Honestly though even if she was 'fine', it made him tense up hearing that she'd been pushed off the path with the Clones. He could have lost her. Not to a Sith, a Droid, or some other enemy, but to the elements.

"I- my grip began to fail Master." Ahsoka said as she trembled. "I-I was going to loose them." She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to find her centre within all the chaos she felt. "They were going to die because I wasn't strong enough. I-I could feel how scared they were."

Anakin leaned back against the door as he continued to listen.

"Then I felt it, amidst all the emotions... I felt strength."

Anakin let her be silent as he allowed himself to gather his own thoughts. "You saved them though?" He couldn't help but feel relief at the nod. It had been for something. He moved over to her and crouched in front of her. "Ahsoka." He began as he looked at her.

She saw his look and lowered her eyes.

"You did something that I couldn't do." He said as he watched her look come back to him. "You did what was needed, and you saved lives today."

He couldn't be mad, he couldn't even make himself fake it. Even if it was something he should do and knew he should do. He couldn't lie to his Padawan, not about this. All he could think of was him trying to save his mother and failing. What he proceeded to do. He could still hear them, could still see the Tusken Raiders fleeing from him when they realized that he couldn't and wouldn't be stopped. He'd killed every single one of them. So how could he be mad at his Padawan for using the same power he had, but having used it to _save_ people?

"It'll be okay Ahsoka." he went to hug her. "You must be careful to not do that again... but I am proud of you. You saved their lives."

Ahsoka was torn and the feeling of shock prevented her from hugging Anakin back for a moment. She was so happy that he was happy and not furious at her. Yet she _knew_ what she had done was so very wrong. Her teachings, _everything_ up until this moment had told her that what she'd done was very bad. She trusted Anakin though, how could he be wrong about this? He was her Master.

"_There is a wildness to you young one. Seeds of the Dark Side planted by your Master. Do you feel it?'_

Ahsoka hugged onto Anakin more. That had been fake; it had been the Son or the Daughter trying to manipulate her. Anakin would never do anything to hurt her, to lead her astray. She knew that and she trusted that, and trusted him. Still she felt cold inside with worry. Her thoughts drifting back to what she'd said to Hardcase, and how it had been easier to think of her Master betraying the Republic than Rex. Her stomach rolled and she buried her face against his neck. Not caring that she was acting younger than she was, she just wanted her Master there. To make it feel okay again. To make it all make sense.

Anakin could feel his Padawan's need and he stayed right there for her. He rubbed her back and sighed. "I'm going to be sending you back to the _Resolute_." He told her. "I will be contacting Obi-wan to tell him what happened." If he didn't already know, thanks to Luminara. He knew that whatever happened between right now and his leaving that he'd send her 'home' to the _Resolute_. If the Council didn't like it then so be it.

"Yes Master."

"Meditate, work on your proper lessons." he began as he tested his ability to end the hug. If she wasn't willing to let him go he wouldn't make her. He smiled when he felt her hold on him loosen and he pulled away from her completely before he stood. "Get your belongings together. I'll come back for you."

She could only nod at him. "Master?"

Anakin looked back at Ahsoka before he stepped out. "Yes?"

"It'll... all be okay right?" She asked, suddenly feeling smaller than she'd ever felt before. "T-the Council, when they find out..."

He moved back over to her and put his hands to her upper arms gently. "I will deal with the Council and anything else that comes our way." He hugged her once more before he got up and left the room.

Once he was gone the chill she had been feeling overtook her again, the silence that was now in the room with her was deafening. Her thoughts now raced around with the information she'd been given along with the building amount of worries. Master Plo was going to find out, what was he going to think? She closed her eyes, hearing his voice calling her _Little 'Soka_. Of all the things that could happen, of all the punishments and all the fears she could think up to be scared about, it was the thought of him never calling her that again that made her tear up.

Ahsoka inhaled shakily, her hand rising to wipe away the tears as she tried to steady herself. She looked around the room, somehow it seeming darker than usual. Finally she made herself stand so she could gather her things, unable to shake the feeling that something had changed inside.

* * *

><p>By the time Rex and the others got back the rain had turned into hail, which did nothing to improve his mood at all. He had learned all that he could have from the men that the Commander had saved. She had done something good, but the way that the Jedi had come and stolen her away told him that she'd also done something bad.<p>

Rex didn't like how Gree seemed to be waiting for their return. He stepped over to the man while the others continued farther inside. He removed his helmet once the large doors had closed beside him. The chill from outside still clinging to his armour.

"How is Commander Tano? Did you find out what happened?" Rex asked as he and Gree began to walk slowly towards warmer areas.

"I don't know about the first, though I found out a bit about the second."

"I don't like that tone." Rex said as he felt himself tense.

"It doesn't sound good Rex. From what I've heard though you and Commander Tano are headed back to the _Resolute, _while General Skywalker is going to be leaving to Coruscant. There was mention of him having to see the Jedi Council while he was there as well due to Tano."

When Gree said nothing more Rex frowned and shook his head. He was so angry right now. He knew that what was happening was beyond him somehow, but he wanted to understand. He wanted to protect his Commander, to help her if she needed him. How could he properly do that when he didn't understand the 'enemy'. Especially when the enemy was a body of people he had to listen to? "Where is Barriss?"

It was now Gree's turn to frown. He came to a stop and turned to Rex, looking at him with very serious eyes. "You will keep her out of this. I do not need you causing problems for my Jedi or her Padawan."

Rex scowled at that and went to move away from him. He understood the others protectiveness, it was built into all of them. Still that didn't make him dislike the other any less.

Gree watched Rex head away before he went to find Barriss. Wanting to make sure that Rex stayed away from her, and that the good-natured girl wasn't getting into trouble somehow.

* * *

><p>Barriss looked back when she felt the Clone coming up behind her. "Commander." She said as she looked up at him innocently.<p>

"Commander." he nodded before he looked around at where they were specifically. "What are you doing over here?"

She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it before she looked back up at him. "I wanted to see Ahsoka."

"Did the General say you could?"

"No." She began. "Though, she didn't say I couldn't."

"Have you even talked to her since she got back? And that walk down the hall in silence doesn't count." He began. When she said 'no' he gave her a look. "You can see Commander Tano another time Commander Offee."

She once again went to speak and then decided against it and sighed dejectedly. "I just want to make sure she is okay." She said as the Clone moved beside her and gave her a gentle push at the small of her back. "I am sure you do Commander, but I insist."

Barriss nodded at that. "Alright." With that she allowed herself to be lead along. She looked back briefly down the hall, trying to send Ahsoka good thoughts. She then paused and looked up at Gree's helmeted face. "Please?"

He looked down at her seriously and shook his head. "From what little I've heard it is best for you not to." He pushed on the small of her back again to encourage her to walk. "I believe that it is the right thing to do."

Barriss looked up at him again, and then down the hall before her. With another gentle nudge she did begin to walk with him. She wasn't sure what Ahsoka had done but she had felt something earlier, something she couldn't identify. "I _will _see her next time." She told him seriously.

Gree said nothing, not wanting to argue and not wanting to commit to something that was an unknown. He was happy though with the Commander's silence as they walked down the hall in search of Luminara.

* * *

><p>It had been within the next hour that everyone had boarded the ship that would be taking them back to the <em>Resolute. <em>Rex was thankful that all of his and Braga's team were alright, for them and for the Commander. He listened as his men talked, watched as they interacted casually. They faced death so often that surviving wasn't something that they worried about, and was happy that they were acting normally. He then looked over to where Braga's team sat, just a bit down from his own. They were talking together as well, though he noticed that Chopper was sitting back with his helmet on. The other was in solitude even in a room full of brothers. He wondered if that was something his team was imposing or if something he chose himself. Either way the others didn't seem to be arguing at him to stop what he was doing. He'd have to look into that.

Finally his sight landed upon the Commander. She was seemingly sitting as far away from them as she could which was something he hadn't seen her do before. That along with how quiet she'd been told of the seriousness of what had happened. He'd tried to get information out of General Skywalker but that hadn't led to anything besides him being told to watch over Ahsoka but to not get 'too close'. He had no idea what the General meant by that. Was it supposed to be physical proximity or was he not to socialize with her? Either way he didn't like it, especially as she continued to sit away from them in silence.

Rex finally stood and moved over towards her. He could only help if he could talk to her, and he hoped that she would allow him that.

* * *

><p>The shame that Ahsoka felt had been growing even as she tried to meditate it away. She listened to the voices of the men, thankful that they were all there. Telling herself that it was alright and re-thinking Anakin's words. Still years of lessons and warnings didn't just disappear due to someone telling you something. She knew she had to get beyond this, that she <em>could <em>do it. She just felt tired right now, and drained of all her energy.

She hoped after a good night sleep in her bed that things would somehow be better, or at least the path to good things was clearer.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Rex walking over towards her. Her chest tightened and she chilled. Even if it wasn't rational she didn't want him to see her. Sure that if he got a good look at her eyes that he'd know everything, and would know how terrible she'd actually been. She didn't want him to blame himself for her failure... didn't want him to be angry.

Still she couldn't help but look towards him as he came closer, at the hopeful smile that he offered her. She'd done something good, but it had been so bad. The inner conflict continued to rage within her with no signs of stopping. She looked away from him, the shame building up again as she forced herself to get up and head towards the front.

Rex faltered at that. He stared at her retreating form and continued to stare even after the door had closed behind her. He felt like he'd just been kicked in the chest. He forced an inhale, his chest tight from what had just happened. She'd never walked away from him before.

* * *

><p>The Clone Pilot looked over as the Padawan entered his area and he frowned under his helmet. "Sir?" he asked.<p>

"I just needed someplace to sit alone." Ahsoka said as she took the other pilot chair.

Well _that_ made him feel all sorts of special.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean it that way." She told him softly.

Crap. He was a pilot; he didn't want to interact with a Commander. He hated kids. They were so _weird _and little and undisciplined and they touched _everything!_ She sounded sad too! This meant that he _had_ to say something, if only so he didn't come off as a total ass. Maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing; then again General Skywalker was reportedly scary. He tilted his head a bit and looked at the girl who had decided to curl up in the chair beside him. He wished this had been a complicated route, and then he'd have had one of his brothers up here with him instead of having the only other Clone pilot off sleeping until his rotation.

He did manage to keep his silence though, and finally the presence of the girl faded away once he was sure that she actually wanted to sit on her own and not interact with him.

Ahsoka had closed her eyes as she hugged her knees to her a bit more, her head resting back against the chair. She didn't want to actually sleep but she felt so tired still. The quiet buzz of the instruments and the slight thrum of the engines did lull her away into a near sleep state. It was quiet and devoid of worries and thoughts.

* * *

><p>Rex got up once they landed and looked back at the door briefly. Perhaps Skywalker had said something to her. Still he felt like he'd done something wrong as well. He went to leave the ship with the others, unsure if the Commander would want him to wait for her, even if he wanted to.<p>

Obi-wan stood outside the ship, looking at the men as they exited. "Rex."

Rex looked over at the usually relaxed man, noticing how stressed he looked. "Sir."

"I want you to make sure everyone hands in a report about their work at the Outpost. Sooner rather than later." Obi-wan told him.

Rex nodded at that. "Yes Sir." He then turned to watch the Jedi head up into the ship. He turned when he heard his name said. He looked over at the helmeted Cody.

"Heard you had some trouble."

"You can say that." Rex began. "What do you know?"

Cody went to walk with Rex, not having to stick around for the General. "Are you asking to see what I have heard to make sure that it's correct, or asking to fish for information?"

"Cody."

Cody frowned to himself; he could tell from the others posture that he was tense. "I might have heard that Commander Tano used the Dark Side to save the lives of some Clones." He noticed the misstep the other took in his otherwise flawless stride. "You had not heard that had you?"

"No." Rex said. "I knew something was wrong. I didn't want to entertain the idea that it was something like that. Though with what I saw and heard the longer I thought about it, the more sense it made."

"General Kenobi has been in talks with the Council for the past few hours on the subject." When he saw Rex look at him he shook his head. "I wasn't in the room with him for any of those talks. I only know what he told me afterwards."

"Which is? Or can you not tell me?"

"You won't like it." Cody told him as they turned down an empty hallway.

"I think I have an idea already, but go ahead and tell me."

Cody was wrong. He not only didn't like what he heard, he hated it.

* * *

><p>Obi-wan had taken Ahsoka to the room he always used for Meditation if he didn't want to use his own room for it. It was small but had enough space for four rounded chairs in it, similar to what was found in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.<p>

Ahsoka could only listen to Obi-wan as he talked to her. She kept watching him, even if she wanted to look away. Her worst fears were becoming a reality.

"How long will this last Master Kenobi?" She asked.

Obi-wan was thankful that Ahsoka wasn't like Anakin. He'd not be taking this as well as she was. Even with as gentle as he was trying to be. "I'm not sure Ahsoka. Anakin and yourself have to be evaluated. Once you and he have been cleared I'm sure the Council will return you to him."

Ahsoka nodded slowly at that. "So... everyone knows?" She asked softly.

Obi-wan sighed at that. "Ahsoka, this is important. You cannot feel bad about this, which will only aid in leading you astray. You know what you did was wrong, that you cannot ever do it again and now you must accept that. You must get yourself to move along a proper path. Self-pity and loathing are ways to the Dark Side Ahsoka."

"I understand Master." She inhaled and closed her eyes.

"Meditate with me." he told her. "I will help you get through this." He trusted that he could, Padawans did go astray, more than they'd ever like to admit. It was always very serious but it didn't mean it was the end of everything. He was here and he hoped that his style of teaching would help Ahsoka through this better than Anakin's would.

Ahsoka shifted to sit in a proper position, closing her eyes and listening to Obi-wan's instructions. He felt so different from Anakin. Obi-wan felt like a cool glass of water as well as a mirage. Like he was there but was untouchable by physical means. Yet he was strong and clear. The conflicting mix of information was comforting somehow. The warmth of his voice, his slight accent, and how he felt, it aided in easing her.

Obi-wan could feel Ahsoka begin to relax as he spoke to her. The turbulent cyclone of emotions began to very slowly ease. He knew it would take time for the settling to stick. He just hoped that while that time passed that Anakin didn't do something bad. He could only imagine how unpleasantly he was reacting to this information.

* * *

><p>Rage. That's all there was. He felt rage like he had only felt before at the Raiders but this time he had no one he could hurt, and didn't have enough objects he could break. He wanted to hunt someone down, find someone and take this anger and pain out on them. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to take steadying breaths. It didn't seem to matter how many he did or how long he tried, the exercises he knew were failing to help him at this time. "She is <em>MY <em>Padawan."

"Perhaps special care is needed? Though, it does seem wrong that you wouldn't be there to help your _own_ Padawn. I'd hate to think that they didn't trust you." Palpatine watched the harsh evening light play dark shadows across the younger males face even as Anakin looked away from him.

Anakin stared down at the floor between his firmly planted feet as he listened to the Chancellor speak.

"Though how many times have they shown you that they don't?"

A lot and this was just another example of it, though this time it was bigger than the rest. "They still don't trust me." Anakin bit out through clenched teeth.

"I trust you Anakin." Palpatine said as he placed a weathered hand upon the youths shoulder.

"Thank you Chancellor." Anakin told honestly.

"I do hope that you do get your Padawan back. You two have done impressive work together. It would be wrong for them to keep you apart for too long."

It would be. "I _will_ get her back." He vowed to himself as he felt the Chancellor's hand leave his shoulder. He would go through the damn evaluations, he would pass and he _knew _his Padawan would do the same. Then he'd have her again and he would show them all just how good he was.

Palpatine watched the intense look on Anakin's face with a hidden smile as he went to look out the large windows. Who knew that the Jedi Council were so good at pushing their own towards the darkness?

* * *

><p>It was late into the night when Rex found he just didn't want to sleep. Though, his want to be awake was being assaulted by his physical need to rest. It had been a stressful day and he hadn't slept in what must be well over twenty hours. He groaned as he slowly headed towards the barracks. Maybe things would somehow look better in the morning. Though, the only way that would be happening was if he woke up to know that the Commander had been re-assigned to General Skywalker and that she would be back with the 501's and not away with the 212th.<p>

He understood why they were supposed to be away from the Commander. She had done something bad in relation to them, to save them. They'd get her back, he was sure of that. Or at least sure that Skywalker would make sure of that. Until then though, it would be like before she was Skywalkers Padawan. When it was just them and their General.

Rex groaned at himself and went to open the door to the sleeping area he shared with the others. Sleep.

As he walked in he took off his helmet, hearing the others sleeping soundly. Something caught his attention though and he stopped to frown at one of the beds. He looked at who slept in the next bed and then looked back at the empty one. He walked over towards the lavatory finding it empty before he looked back towards the men. He moved over to the foot of the bed and lifted up the trunk's lid, finding it empty. His brows drew and looked at the clearly slept in bed. Where the hell was Echo?

* * *

><p>"I... don't know if this is a good idea Commander." Echo said as he looked along the halls in a paranoid way. "We got orders not to interact with you."<p>

She looked up at him. "I know, but you guys didn't _make_ me do anything. I did it myself. I-I just, need to get my mind off of things and Rex said I should talk to you about the questions I have."

Echo frowned under his helmet. Why did he feel like this wasn't going to be a quick conversation? Still he looked around, expecting to be caught by someone as he walked along with the Commander. "Did he? What is it you wanted to talk about?"

"Rules and Regulations." She told him. "And other things like that."

"Really?" He wondered what she'd want to know, or where these questions were now coming from since she'd never seemed interested in Rules and Regulations. Much like everyone else he knew. Still he found it odd that he'd be stolen away in the night to talk about this subject while they were actively breaking the rules.

Ahsoka smiled a little to herself at how that clearly perked the Clones interest. "Yes. But some of the questions might not be 'easy' ones."

"Well I have read a lot, and I'm a quick searcher. If you need to know something and I don't know it then I can find it." He said with a nod, suddenly feeling safe and secure in this situation.

Ahsoka was happy that the clone was well inside his element. She looked around before she opened the door and got the other to go in first. She then followed him in.

Echo took off his helmet and looked around the small and simple room. He had seen the private quarters before but he'd never been in the Commanders. Though honestly there wasn't much in here to hint that it was hers besides the little set up she had against one wall with some candles. He moved over to peek at the little 'shrine' she had.

"It helps me meditate." She told him as she went to sit on the floor in front of her bed, allowing her back to rest against it. She knew how uncomfortable her being on her bed made them after seeing Rex's reaction, and after the embarrassment she'd already put Echo through, she'd try to spare him as best she could.

Echo looked around and went to take his own seat, settling back against the wall as he looked at her. "So, what is it you want to know about?"

Ahsoka went to open her mouth and then thought a bit. "I- A lot actually?" She smiled. "I originally wanted to ask you about why you guys weren't allowed to pick up Droid Fingers."

With a starter question like that he was pretty sure what this was about. Still, if he didn't watch it this could go into a dark area. Truth was truth, but there were things people _had _to know and then there was information they didn't have to know. "Well, we're not supposed to pick things up off the battlefield." He began. "It's a regulation not to." When he saw her look he continued. "What falls in battle stays there unless it's one of our own or it came from us. Like weapons and anything like that. Picking things up is seen as bad behaviour, that can lead to people taking risks to get better and better 'trophies'. Potentially that could lead to single person putting everyone else in danger."

"What if you're not putting anyone in danger? If you're picking something up on the way back to where you're going and the battle is over?"

"If you're still on a battlefield the battle isn't over. Attacks can still happen Commander, and dividing your attention to picking up things that aren't ours instead of keeping a proper look out can result in you helping put others in danger."

Ahsoka nodded slowly at that as she thought of Chopper. That sounded too 'easy' somehow. She looked at Echo, her eyes scanning his face. "So... if you were picking up Droid bits and keeping them because you felt like you deserved to have them for what they'd taken from you, how bad is that?"

"I'd... say that was very bad Commander." Echo told as he frowned in thought. "We're not supposed to get attached."

"We have something in common." She told him softly, figuring that she could easily get why they shouldn't get attached to things. Especially with how many of them had lost their friends in battle. "If something like that happens with someone, what happens?"

"I'm... not sure what you're asking Commander."

"Why are people sent to Kamino to be questioned?"

That took him aback. "We only get sent to Kamino for two reasons. To be questioned if something happened, something would have to be pretty major, something like us going against what we're here for. Only other reason to go there is if we've been really hurt and we need their help to heal." He said as he left out the rest. He didn't hate Kamino, and he wasn't scared of his 'home' at all. Still he didn't think the Commander needed to know about the other parts unless she asked it specifically. Especially after what had happened at the Outpost, he'd rather leave a lot of it out if he could.

"Like having someone you know turn out to be a Traitor?" She could tell that he was 'dumbing down' the information a little to make it clearer. Ahsoka was also sure that he was only telling her what she needed to know. That was for her benefit and it was something she was thankful for. Since she was finding it easy for her head to wander right now.

"Yes." Echo said. "Or we do something that they need to check on. We were all questioned after what happened on Umbara." He began. "I know Dogma was questioned more than we were due to what he did. Still we all made it back."

"What happens if you didn't? Like, if Dogma hadn't been cleared?"

"I believe he would have been sent to the Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center."

Which is where Obi-wan had been. Ahsoka thought quietly at that for a few moments, remembering how betrayed her Master felt. How betrayed he _still _felt. She couldn't argue with how he was feeling either. Still, parts of her told her that it was very bad for him to continue feeling that way towards a situation that had already passed. She smiled humorlessly to herself; she had to take her own advice.

"Is there something else Commander?" Echo asked. He did want to give her time to think but it was late and he would like to sleep, or at least get back before he was missed.

"Ah..."Ahsoka tried to think and she shook her head a bit. She was anything but tired but her mind was so full of other thoughts that it was hard to concentrate. "I'm going to ask you something and you need to keep it between us."

"Yes Sir." He said as he sat up a bit more and gave her, her full attention.

"If I wanted to access information, official information on the Clones and didn't want to use my own security code, how would I go about that?"

Echo watched her carefully. Why would she want to know that? He frowned as he thought over her enquiry. "I... don't know if that is information I should be trying to figure out for you Sir."

"If I already have the clearance is it so bad? It's not like I'm someone who couldn't look at it."

"That is true, but the question becomes why do you not want people to know you're looking at it?"

She had no good answer, and she realized she was trying to lie to the other so she could get what she had already been banned from. She slumped and sighed. "Because my Master said I couldn't and I don't understand why and nobody is giving me the answers I want." She looked at him. "Do you know why he wouldn't want me to have access?"

"There could be a few reasons, Sir." Echo ran a gloved hand through his hair. He watched her expression and thought over his own words carefully before he spoke. "You would be able to access a lot of information if you so wanted. Some of it could be 'upsetting', injury lists, fatality lists, those are things I don't think you should be worrying about Sir."

She listened to the 'warning' he gave her and considered his words. She knew there was more information, or at least a clearer way of saying it but she wasn't about to order him to help her out. She was sure he had his reasons, and that they were more than him not wanting to get into trouble. She smiled thankfully and nodded. "Thank you for your time Echo."

He went to get up, thankful that he could escape before they reached any information that would have been unpleasant. "Sir?" He asked as he looked back, his hands moving to put his helmet back on.

"Yes?" She asked as she looked up at him.

"I have _reasons _to believe that a datapad with pre-loaded codes could grant you the access you need. You'd need to talk to a Clone of Commander or Higher to possibly get one. That is if the Generals weren't an option."

Ahsoka smiled at that. "Thank you, Echo. I'll take that into account." She then watched him head away and she sat back. A pre-loaded datapad hm? Ahsoka slumped and looked at the bed, it looking cold and uninviting. She then scooted forward and sat in front of her little shrine and went about lighting the four candles on it. She might as well try to take her own advice and meditate.

* * *

><p>Padmé had heard rumours as to why Anakin was back but she hadn't been able to see him due to how busy they both had been. She felt assured that he would come see her as soon as he could. When he did finally come in she didn't rush him the way she had thought she might. Instead she slowly stood from her seat and made her way around the desk. "Anakin?" She asked softly with worry.<p>

The warm morning lighting cast gentle shadows on his form, yet he looked imposing and far too dark for how lit the area was. It was as if he was actually somewhere else, somewhere dark.

She'd seen him at his bad times and his good. Right now though she was struggling to think of when he'd last looked the way he did. She found herself not wanting to get near him, even if she continued to move towards his imposing form. "Anakin?"

His teeth ground together in his clenched jaw. When he felt the cool gentle hand touch his face he looked at her tiredly. He reached up to place his hand over hers, not wanting her to take it away. She was his center. "Padmé."

She smiled as his blue eyes met hers, though the joy was short lived when she saw an odd colouration on the black glove he wore over his right hand. A bad feeling formed in her but she didn't draw attention to it. She continued her smile, wanting to see him smile back at her. To show her in any way that he was alright.

He moved his hand away from hers after a moment, reaching out to take both of hers gently with his good hand. "I'm happy to see you."

"I'm happy to see you too." She focused on his face, seeing the mix of stress lines and tired lines. "You haven't slept? What's wrong?" She fought the impulse to move away at the anger she felt from him. "Ani?"

"They took Ahsoka away." He said as he looked away from her.

"What? Who?" Padme demanded with drawn brows.

"The Council." he mumbled through gritted teeth. "I have to undergo an evaluation to be able to get her back."

"I-I'm sure they have their reasons Ani... and I'm sure you'll pass." She told him with a tight smile. "You're so good at tests and getting out of tight situations, even when they look grim."

He was going to argue that at length with her but the way she looked at him made him nod slowly. She had such honesty in her eyes; he couldn't refuse the words that she said to him.

"An evaluation just means that they want you to have some time apart. Not that you'll never get her back right?" She squeezed his left hand lovingly.

"They don't trust me Padmé." He told her. "That's the real reason they took her away."

"If they didn't trust you would they trust you with me, or with the Chancellor? Or with any of the big missions that they've sent you on?"

He stared at that. "No..."

She freed her left hand from his hold and touched his cheek again, her fingers running up into his hair. "We can talk Anakin. Ahsoka's my friend too, if I'm not going to be able to see her for a bit, I'd like to know why."

Anakin smiled at her. The anger he felt had waned a bit. He still believed that they didn't trust him completely but he was clearly trusted enough to have the freedoms he had.

"You tell me to trust in my abilities as a senator. You must trust in your abilities as a Jedi and in hers." Padmé told him with a little nod.

"Once again I can see why you are what you are, Senator." he said as he offered her a genuinely loving smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She went to take his gloved hand, squeezing it in a loving way. "Perhaps if... you're free tonight…" She began, allowing him to fill in the rest of her sentence.

Anakin smiled in a new way, one that only Padmé could make him smile in. "I could really use some time with you."

"I'm glad." She said genuinely.

He felt her take her hands away from him and he stepped back, knowing he should go. "I'll see you tonight, Senator. Have a good day."

"You as well." Padmé watched him leave. She then looked down at the hand that had touched the back of his glove. A deep frown marred her otherwise pristine face as she saw the traces of deep red on her skin. Blood. She looked towards the door with worry. Why was there drying blood on Anakin?


End file.
